unkharil | event

[groundrules]

UNKHARIL

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Leaving the House of Manouk through waypoints, the party arrives back to the present time of Akhuras, in the jungle swathes of Unkharil. Those undergoing a canon update fleetingly detour into their home worlds. Old or new, you wake with a start, on high alert — body ablaze with static electricity. Some characters might struggle with vertigo, misted memories and dimmed powers for up to 48 hours, while their bodies readjust to no longer being lost in time.

You are in the care of a highly disciplined, if largely nomadic caravan — the refugees of most holy Alem, the kingdom built upon hell that succumbed to the undead. Karsa informs new recruits that the party assisted Alem’s king Deimar with evacuation efforts and with sealing the gates of hell, months prior. Their kingdom lost, Deimar has now taken his people to his mother’s ancestral grounds of Unkharil — a temple-fortress in a valley bordered by four tall mountains that serve as its protective walls.

Legend says the four mountains pillared the heavens, while snake god Kharil-asuk nested in the valley below to recover after birthing the world. So long was his sleep that cloud gods sent down the first bursts of lightning and thunder — frightening awake Kharil-asuk, who slithered into the jungle, never to be seen again. Since, sacred Unkharil has served as site of worship and coronations.

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King Deimar — whimsical, breezy, but cuttingly sharp — welcomes you in Unkharil, until the Merchant finalises your travel arrangements east. His people are weary, battle-worn and starved for kindness. Where applicable, some might optionally remember you under the false identity you wore in Arc V.

Seek out accommodations in the stone huts of the temple-fortress or the humble, often single-person cells that were dug bluntly into the mountain walls for hermit monks. Unkharil was deserted over the years as Kharil-asuk’s cult lost worship — but superstitious bandits have kept their looting away from temple grounds. You may still find furniture, pieces of clothing and worship, while refugees can spare clothes and food supplies.

TASKS

■ Assist with cleaning and reconstructing the destitute grounds of Unkharil, raising new stone columns and cleansing altars. Those with a connection to nature or the animals sense this is a quiet, revered territory.

■ Many survivors of Alem’s siege suffer from burns, cuts or trauma you can allay. The orphaned, widowed and wounded appreciate a kind word, company or help settling in.

■ Find a thin golden stream in the jungle, whose tepid waters may accelerate healing, improve your spirits or give you a day of staggering good luck. Bring back waters for recovering refugees.

■ Learn to use mountain scaling gear (rope-bound pairs encouraged) — or tame a 3-meter Kalioperus flier (useful for scouting and the Wailing below). Refugees and the few remaining temple monks may assist, but it’s learning by doing on the slippery mountain sides and with the thin-tempered fliers.

■ Largely warriors, Deimar’s people lost numerous troops defending Alem and now replenish their forces by teaching their youth weapons combat and light magic. Come dawns, join them in the courtyard to learn a skill or offer your own lessons. Alem instructors are strict, disciplined and martial — but fair. Characters who lack natural magic can learn to operate gem-triggered spheres that generate shields or a burst of fire/lightning. You may keep the gems after, but your character will need a few weeks of study to achieve mastery.

■ (Learn to) fish, hunt and forage to renew supplies. Beware flesh-eating fish in some jungle rivers. Ride an okapi?

■ Yet wary of traders, Deimar (grudgingly) invites merchants to revive their routes to Unkharil, with many caravans, errant scholars, priests, necromancers and sorcerers arriving to study his proposition. Some arrive all the way from magical jewel city Taravast — including an exuberant acolyte of old master Wrath! — and may offer exotic food and drink, or unique items. You may trade or earn coin by selling services or performances. Musical, art and thespian instruments can be found on the grounds.

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QUESTS

THE HEART(H) OF IT

”Rise and shine, lads! Heat of a jungle’s sun won’t be waning, no use waiting it out. The iron here’s rung cold too long. What little’s left of it. Shows the place was run by monks. They abandoned the smithy, once the fires guttered, and the mines, soon as the mouths collapsed only a little! Ha. Spoiled devils. Even left behind the ore already dug out. You go right in and fetch some iron… some copper, some silver… whatever yo find. We’ll get the blaze going. Time to forge. Don’t worry. We’ll make it worth your while.”

— Eitam, master forger

Deimar’s ironmongers revive the smithy of Unkharil but require precious ore and materials for manufacturing. Scale the steep mountain of Masida that walls in Unkharil to the east and infiltrate its abandoned mine to recover some previously discovered, but abandoned goods. Beware crumbling paths, rotten wood stairs and moulding ropes, as parts of the mines threaten collapse. Refugees supply golden fireworks that can shoot out to alert anyone within the mine you are in danger. Blacksmith rewards await.

PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

Visiting merchants are willing to resume trade, but have ongoing safety concerns.

■ Meet a first set of incoming grain-bearing caravans in the jungle and escort them on the last six-hour leg of their voyage to Unkharil. These are hefty and slow wagons, frequently targeted by bandits who dam their paths or pretend they are wounded, while their brothers attack from tree outposts.

■ Destroy the encampments of the vicious jungle-based Red Claws bandits. These outlaws typically attack in groups, share nightly meals and drink to strengthen their ties, providing excellent ambush opportunities. They cover their faces with a cinnabar or blood print of their leader’s palm.

■ Hold talks to appease the merchants Balthazar (easily impressed by shows and the arts) and Anathula (who wants a clear business pitch). Give diplomacy your best!

THE WAILING

”… they were so happy, so holy, then why do they shame themselves with tears now? You must be wondering. The truth does not honour us: first, Unkharil’s priesthood only accepted brothers from among those who survived snake’s poison. But the chosen were few, and the lands needed tending. Then, Unkharil accepted brothers from men of great skill, literacy and wisdom. But the learned were few, and the lands needed tending. Then, Unkharil accepted orphans, survivors of the jungle, men of the snake’s vision. But wanderers were few, and the lands needed tending. And soon, what recruits Kharil-asuk did not provide, in his mercy — his priesthood took… from the breasts of widows, from pillaged homes, from bandits. They kept even the most unwilling.”

— groundsmaster Kayik

Unkharil’s new residents soon find their beauty sleep disrupted by nightly wails, projected from several of the monk cells dug into Mount Nathadi, which walls in Unkharil from the south. These are the ghosts of former monks, whom you can appease by scaling the mountain and cleaning their cell, recovering their bones for burial (where applicable) or providing a minor service for the ghost (your choice of what the monk might desire: perhaps the recitation of a poem, an update on the weather outside, a good deed, etc.) Many of the monks were especially devoted to Kharil-asuk and to theories of reincarnation — for the lives of men are to the soul like a snake shedding its skin — and may impart you their wisdom.

WATER MY CROPS

Help Deimar’s people to revitalise local soil, seed gardens and crops, build dams and redirect jungle rivers. Water or lunar tide sorcery also work. Alem refugees were primarily warriors and will need you to illustrate the basics of gardening and land care.

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TO DAYS GONE BY

To welcome the start of their new lives, the refugees hold two nights of celebrations. During the day, you prepare tall bonfires or purify the lands with incense and sage-infused water, finding you are readily welcome in every home.

■ The first banquet night (OOCly on 25 August) pays homage to the lost: the survivors of Alem remember the siege and encourage you to speak of your own dead. Letters of penance, love or remembrance are written to the dead, read by the witness of your choosing and burned in bonfires. Heavy, syrupy and thick drink abounds.

■ The second banquet night (OOCly on 5 September) honours the living: everyone must show and express gratitude to someone alive, for any reason. Grit your teeth and offer thanks.

SERVANTS OF AFIRU (warning: snakes)

”There was no strength left in the bones of Kharil-asuk, after birthing the ground and the sky and the moon, and man and his mountains. And the first son of his likeness paid the price: brave white Afiru, small and feeble, but how proud he was! And the dozen men who caught him, not knowing his right divine, thought they did him a kindness to cull his pain young: to set him on a slate of stone and cut him in small parts, and eat of him for their dinner. Fools! Each bite of Afiru took root within them! Come morning, a dozen men woke in the image of Afiru: half snake, half human, beastly and cunning, their roiling bellies only quenched when they ate of their brothers. So, Afiru seeded his curse, and that same stone plate is now his altar: and just as he washed it with his life’s blood for men, so too must men now pay the price of bleeding.”

— old village tale

Within the jungle depths sleeps the minor, ruined temple of serpent god Afiru — malicious son of Kharil-asuk — whose mind-thralled servants abduct hapless innocents as sacrifices to the deity’s naga emissaries. Infiltrate the decayed temple to ruin Afiru’s altar — releasing his servants from their thrall and ending his worship. The naga priests are half beasts, half men, but deathly silent and possessed of fiercely sharp and venomous claws and fangs. If poisoned, your wounded limb swells, then numbs, then darkens as the toxin spreads through your body. You have 12 hours to get back to Unkharil, increasingly groggy and stiff, and drink a cure — or may pre-emptively carry a few doses, going in.

A HUNDRED MOUTHS (newcomers only)

Large stone gates carved into the northern mountain that walls in Unkharil hide an ancient granary whose wares could allay starvation… and interest visiting merchants. To open the doors, you must fit missing ruby beads back into the gate’s carvings. The gems, you learn, were picked out and dragged away by feral Kalioperus fliers — larger and more vicious than the ones you ride — and taken back to their nests at the very tip of Unkharil’s walling mountains. Report your ruby finds — rewards await.

ANOINTED (warning: snake)

”I saw him! With my mind clear, and my eyes shut, and my heart open. And he was beautiful! I ran in high grass, and my feet tore, and my dress ragged, and do not listen! I was not as the others are, greedy. I wanted nothing, nothing! He asked, ‘Daughter, what do you wish of me?’ And I said to him, ‘Only to see you.’ And he said, ‘So be it.’ And after mother Moon rose, and the good rain downed, and it was silence in this world he gave us, but for this breath, that was the murmur of the skies! No vastness greater than the drums of his heartbeat, and his sundered gaze: one eye, it was blood, and the other gold. And together, they saw me. He saw me. And he loved me! So he gave me the silk of his shed skin, to remember him by. In the morning, old women say, hunters found me in the jungle, stroking a piece of old, mouldy rope. But I know, it was him, it was the Father. And he saw me, as they do not see him”

— Laila, weaver

Deimar inherited his mother’s lands, but his uncles are likely to contest the claim of a pauper king with a feeble army. To legitimise his rule, Deimar wants the blessing of snake deity Kharil-asuk. The few remaining locals of Unkharil say the great serpent may be seen on stormy nights with lightning and thunder by those who wait at night in the jungle, after purifying themselves with meditation or partaking of ‘mind-cleansing’ asuk — a strong drug that triggers hallucinations and prophecy. The enormously large serpent body of Kharil-asuk — two-kilometres long, 100 meters wide — slithers before his chosen and must be chased into the depths of the jungles, no matter the animal and bandit dangers, before it disappears.

Inquisitive and untamed, but not necessarily malicious, Kharil-asuk often seeks to shrug off his pursuers, camouflaging in the landscape. He speaks as a voice in the heads of his pursuers, assessing them with questions about true worth and what entitles men to land, wisdom and nobility. He may attempt to drive those he deems unworthy for their past sins (betrayal, murder) in the path of mortal danger (cliffs, bandits, traps). Anyone can chase Kharil-asuk and speak with him. You can still sign up for a RNG to receive his blessing.

NOTES

■ Newcomers may be introduced to the large undead dragon, now bound to the party since Arc V. Formerly a tormentor of Alem, she keeps her distance and flies outside of Unkharil for now.

■ This downtime event lasts until 15 September and is followed by Arc VII. Pace yourselves and engage in as much or as little as you want, quests-wise!

QUESTIONS

NPC INBOX

Comments

[valeas]

( Emilia nods her agreement, reminds herself the last time she felt a slight dampening of her powers, it was brief and due to similar, if not identical, consequences. She'll give it time before she grows too anxious.

She still feels her source, feels its furnace-like heat in her belly. )

We can wait for nighttime.

By then, it might not matter and our powers are fully restored, but regardless. The moonstone should help as an amplifier of sorts.

[somebadnews]

[ Good. They all know what he was planning before he even needs to bring up the ritual. This is all going to... be fine.

It's not ironic at all that their magic hinges on the moon, though Five can't help but cast Allison a look to see if she's thinking the same thing. If he believed in signs, he might have deeper objections. At the moment he's split between Allison's evolving power and his escalating nerves. ]

So that gives us a few hours. [ Plenty of time for something to go wrong. ] No reason to put it off any more than that.

[rumorate]

Good.

[And since they're discussing the details:]

Wrath and I talked about the ritual, and if you still want me to rumor you, I think it's probably best we do it before rather than during. Better to be prepared, right?

[Just gonna say this in front of everyone, since she and Wrath already had the conversation and Emilia's going to be participating, so she thinks it's best that they get everyone on the same page.

The narration is sure that Five will tell her how she's wrong though.]

[somebadnews]

[ They talked about... Five’s mouth hinges open, then snaps shut as he looks between them while he decides if he needs to defend what he asked her to do. Maybe there was a reason they didn't react to her testing a rumor on him; they already knew that he'd made a request.

They can't be too surprised. After the incident with the Huntress' heart, his willpower isn't looking particularly impressive. This doesn't help. ]

...I think we've all seen what happens when we're not.

[inferus]

( Wrath's expression does not shift from the neutrality he has presented the entire time - adept as he is at revealing nothing, a trait that has often angered his wife in the past (for good reason). He certainly gives no indication to his reaction when Allison informed him of this. At present, he is goal oriented, and he intends to see this ritual through by this evening at the latest. )

Prepare as you wish.

There is preparation needed for the ritual, which I intend to finish by nightfall. One of the huts on the edge is likely to give you the most privacy.

( He primarily thinks of the days following the ritual. He knows Five well enough to know he would not like anyone to see him in a weakened state. )

[rumorate]

Okay. Then we'll get set up in one of the huts. Should we do this there or do we need a special location?

[If yes, then they'll text to let him know they're all set up, if no then they'll meet them there and Allison can transport him back.]

[valeas]

( An excellent question, bestie. )

We should be able to perform the ritual just outside of the hut claimed. So long as the moon shines above us, the location is not as important. Should we wait until most others are asleep, however?

( They'll want to afford Five privacy for this, she thinks. )

[somebadnews]

[ Five stands there, tense but nodding anyway. He nearly suggests Allison rumor anyone who happens to be occupying the hut, but they've invoked her powers enough in their presence. It's practically implied at this point. ]

Fine. We'll secure the location and be ready. [ They won't hear any complaints from him about doing it outside of the hut. If they say that's what needs to happen, he's going to have to trust them. — Ordinarily, he might have blinked away that second, but he stays there a moment longer to look between the three of them. ]

Anything else?

[inferus]

( Wrath shakes his head in answer to the question. He has gone over multiple times within his head how the ritual will be done - based both on what he witnessed in Taravast and his own magic, how rituals are done.

He is prepared, and Five should be too though he can read the tension in the small mortal's shoulders. )

Let us know when you've secured the hut.

( Emilia and Wrath will find one of their own for their time in this place, and Wrath will organize the material components one final time. )

[rumorate]

Will do.

[And with that, they will head off to secure a hut. They will strive for one that's already empty, but if Allison has to persuade someone ... well, she will. And after she texts them, but before Wrath and Emilia get there, she turns to her brother.]

So, you want to do this now? Before they get here?

[somebadnews]

[ The time between their last conversation with Emilia and Wrath and gathering supplies wasn't uneventful. If anything, Five is more tense than he was before once the evening comes around, and he's distracted enough that it takes him a moment to realize what Allison is referring to.

He'd argue his point more, but she already knows his reasons for asking her. Still, she's... considerate to keep from doing it front of them again. ]

Now works. [ Then he frowns when he remembers how quickly she brought it up before. ] Not that we're keeping any secrets.

[rumorate]

Even if they know about it, that doesn't mean they have to see it.

[She's been turning it over in her head ever since he asked her to do this. As much as some of her rumors can be off-the-cuff, Five is clever and she doesn't want to give him any loopholes.]

I heard a rumor that you don't interfere with the completion of the ritual. You don't blink out, you don't run, and you let Wrath do what he needs to do.

[There's a brief pause, and then she adds for good measure:]

Relax. Breathe. Everything is going to be fine.

[somebadnews]

[ Five may have had more to say about that, but he doesn't have time to respond before her rumor starts. He'd expected it to be subtle, something like a failsafe that he didn't really need, up until it takes hold. Suddenly he's breathing deeper and there's an odd sense of calm that comes over him.

The pessimism that he'd been gripping so tightly onto seems to slip out from under him. He only puzzles over its loss for a moment before his eyes clear and he looks back up at Allison. ]

Are they on their way?

[rumorate]

[Allison reaches for her crystal and checks for a response to her message before nodding.]

They're on their way. Anything else I can get you?

[somebadnews]

[ He nearly asks if she could dig up any coffee, then shakes his head. Why would he want to be more awake for this? Alcohol might have been his second choice, if he wasn't already feeling oddly relaxed, all things considered. ]

If we haven't thought of it by now, I don't need it. [ He moves towards the center of the hut, just shy of pacing. ] Wrath said it wouldn't take long, but you can keep an eye out for anyone who wakes up and wonders what's going on.

[rumorate]

[She nods, before moving to the door and scanning out into the area around them. He's right, not many people are out, but that may change if they start making noise.]

I'll make sure they get less interested.

[inferus]

( It is not long before Wrath and Emilia arrive at the hut. The moon is bright, full of power. Wrath is aware of it though he does not hold the stone in his hand at present. His own power appears to have returned to him in full as it is so it's unlikely the moon is necessary, but the boost in power can never be a flaw, and given Emilia and him want to utilize this full moon power to finally break their curse in full, this will be a good time to see exactly what it is capable of.

He carries a box with all of the ingredients needed, nodding to Allison as they arrive and he sees her looking out the door. He examines the space in front of the hut, finding the area where the moon shines its brightest.

From the box, he first pulls out a bed roll, unwinds it and lays it down on the ground where the light hits. He works with quiet efficiency - herbs placed on to a stone along with a bowl, onyx, some copper. )

[valeas]

( Emilia greets both the Hargreeves with an understated smile, otherwise somber as befitting the occasion. She walks across the space to stand opposite Wrath, a small basket in arm that carries some ingredients as well, most especially the moonstone.

She is here to play support more so than to be the main caster, for a change, and she observes Wrath as he works in his diligent and methodical way. She rarely gets to see him in this light, and would enjoy it more, under different circumstances.

Once he's done with his part, she goes about setting up a circle around his work, the circle they will be working within. She alternates candles and ferns to delineate the shape. Half the candles are black. The other half rose-gold.

Only then does she cross the space back to him, lifting up her dagger in offer. )

[somebadnews]

[ Five nods to Allison, and he trusts that she'll be able to handle any nosy neighbors that wander by. She's seen what he's gone through to keep this quiet, only to have it come out at the end. Really, if he could commend himself on anything, it's that he's managed to keep his curse from most of them for years. The three people gathering are among the only ones aware of the shard in him, and how he got it. — Once it's over, he might think to update the other two that aren't present.

He'll likely have time to debate that, judging by how they've prepared the hut.

Stepping out to meet Wrath and Emilia, he notes they're already well on their way to setting up whatever is needed for their magic. Five looks between the objects placed with some significance on the ground, surrounded by candles. For all of his studying of curses, he barely knows what they do. It's too late to ask, and somehow he's not bothered that he doesn't understand more about the ritual he's agreed to participate in.

He waits in silence as the candles are lit and Emilia brings out a dagger. That should set off warning bells for what's to come, but instead he simply stands calmly by. Like he isn't about to be completely vulnerable and exposed to whatever may be lurking in the shadows.

Even when he's oddly relaxed, he can feel the anguish that isn't his, built up inside. He's resolved to be rid of it by whatever means. Distantly he hears a voice, that sounds a lot like Dolores, teasing him for how long it took for a paranoid old man to do what's best for him. (It's a nice change from the last time she spoke to him, even if it's only in his mind.) He glances once to Allison and sighs out a breath. ]

Looks like they're close.

[inferus]

( Wrath takes the dagger from his wife with appreciation and then sets it to the right of where he currently has kneeled within the circle she creates. The bowl is filled with water, with a twig of rosemary, with sea salt, with the copper from before, with splash of oil. With one careful stir, the bowl is set beside the dagger. And then as a final amount of preparation, Wrath draws the shadows in around the hut, around the circle - light but enough to give them additional cover.

His gaze drifts to Emilia as she makes the finishing touches to the circle. Rarely does he ever have any support when he does a ritual of any kind, but he can think of no one better to give it to him and to cleanse Five through the moon's light. Who better than the moon daughter herself? Then he looks over to Allison and Five. He can tell the rumoring went beyond an order but to a forced calmness. There is tension from earlier today which is entirely missing. It is not a decision Wrath can understand, but for a great deal of time, Wrath had nothing of his own - not choice, not purpose. He would not voluntarily choose to ever be in such a position again regardless of the circumstances, but this choice was not his to make.

Wrath gestures toward the bedroll as he looks at Five. )

It is nearly ready.

[somebadnews]

[ If it wasn't telling before that a rumor had been used on him, it might be obvious with how little hesitation Five has once Wrath gestures to where he's supposed to go. He steps around the candles and approaches the bedroll, lowering himself there, still just as calm as notices the moonlight is directed in this exact spot at the center of the circle.

It helps that it doesn't exactly look like an operating table. More like a sacrificial alter, but that's probably just Hollywood and his years here influencing him. These people never met a problem they couldn't solve through a little ritual sacrifice.

Somehow that idle thought doesn't bother him as much as it should. He knows Wrath might be disappointed that he relied on his sister, but he could probably see why it was necessary. Emilia must too, and Allison certainly did. He was still true to his word in the end. No more room for mistakes.

He looks up from where he sits and gives a small nod as he waits for his next instruction. ]

[inferus]

( Wrath picks up the dagger at his side, and then moves the bowl of water between the both of them as Five sits on the bedroll. )

The ritual requires a small amount of your blood.

( He lifts his other hand out so Five might give him his palm. )

[somebadnews]

[ Of course it does. The dagger had to be for something, and he should be relieved if all it's for is a small amount of blood.

Five shifts in his position and holds out his hand. ]

Better than the last one. [ Although in hindsight, he should have thought to wear something he wouldn't mind throwing blood up on. Sue him for thinking Wrath's methods will be a little less messy. ]

[inferus]

( Wrath takes his hand and then slides the dagger across it with the same methodical efficiency that he has done the rest of the preparation with. He holds the hand over the bowl until several drops of blood slip into the liquid, until it is enough, and it is not very much at all as he had promised.

Then he takes the bandage, wraps and ties it around Five's hand where the cut is. )

Lie back.

( He had originally planned to use a sleeping tincture of some kind, but it seems that will not be necessary. The entire ritual will be quick as it is. He burns sage, blows the smoke of it into the water as well, and it lights with power, with the purging that the ritual promises. Wrath's gaze moves to Emilia to be certain she is ready, and she does appear to be - beautiful in the moonlight. )

Emilia will cleanse you with the light of the moon while I remove the mirror from within.

[valeas]

( Something twists low in her belly to see Five so compliant, so agreeable. Emilia has to remind herself it was a choice he made to ensure the results of the ritual, to be free of the curse. That she must respect it, in spite of the way it churns.

Her gaze slides over to Wrath, sensing the weight of his own, and she gives him a nod.

The candles come to life all at once as she clasps her hands together, tucks them under her chin. Her eyes close, and where she would have once needed an incantation, perhaps runes to strengthen the magic, now she taps the unbounded source deep within.

She tempers this volcanic source, and with the moonstone resting at her feet, summons a mote of light between her hands much gentler than her offensive fire. Draws it toward the circle, even as she reaches out in turn.

Toward the moon: that she may commune with it, the circle now fully gleaming. )