God's Willing, God-Fearing

God's Willing, God-Fearing
Date	10/11/2024 - 10/31/2024
Storyteller	Doug
Tier	Varied
Player Characters	Victoria Honeystride, Zeal, Sanguine, Sanaa
Rewards	225 exp
Result	All associates are alive
Author	Victoria
Downtime	4

I and a few other associates received a letter to report to the Council Chambers at 9:00 AM to go on a spiritual journey. I was informed that we were not to bring weapons or armor, for we would only need tools of our worship. I brought mine anyways, because my weapons and armor are my tools of worship, as I follow Gorum, our lord in iron. Joining us on this journey are Sanaa, an alchemist who follows Nalinivati, Lictor Zeal, who has devoted himself entirely to the teachings of the Godclaw, Armiger Sanguine, who follows Barbatos, and Councilman Gregorios Jude, who worships every single deity at once. We were given holy robes to change into, and instructed to inscribe the symbol of our deity on our flesh with a piece of charcoal. I was told that my own tattoo of the holy symbol of the Godclaw that is on my left shoulder would not cause any problems. Councilman Jude, in a state of undress not befitting one of his position, brought us into a small room where we were informed that we were to participate in a ritual to call the attention of the divine, because he felt like our city had been losing their attention. I will admit that even with my armor on under the robes, I had removed my boots and gauntlets. This was the biggest state of undress I had ever been in on a job, and I pray that will not have to be in this state in the future. After Lictor Zeal and I convinced Councilman Jude that we should not call upon Treerazer, Groetus, Baphomet, Aryzul, Rovagug, and Nhimbaloth, we were given a foul smelling concoction that we could barely keep down. Despite my efforts to remain conscious upon consuming the brew, I was soon brought into a vivid hallucination. I saw a battlefield unfolding before me, with an endless army of near-dead soldiers surrounding me, begging for me to ease their suffering so they would have to fight no longer. I used my magic to heal as many as I could, but I quickly found myself overwhelmed by their numbers. They swarmed all across me, and I could do naught but watch as a massive greatsword descended upon me, and I experienced death for the first time. I am thankful it was only a vision, so I could write down that it felt exhilarating. I did not actually die though, as I awoke surrounded by an ocean of blood and a mountain of corpses, upon which stood an armored figure. I went to meet them, surrounded by an army, but they intercepted me as I stopped to heal an innocent person. They then proceeded to stab me, and claim that I am not a warrior. I tried fighting back while explaining that I fight to preserve peace, but I took heavy injuries from that. Some weird shadow figure came out of my chest as I died again. When I awoke, I was in a coffin, stripped of my armor. I resisted against the lid, and was soon able to get it open. I crawled out of my own grave, and found myself surrounded by headstones that had "FAILURE" engraved upon them. Another reminder of why I still draw breath. I saw a sword on a hill and crawled towards it, but found myself grabbed by another armored figure. They tried to claim that I am not a warrior, and I argued back saying that a warrior would not have stayed in the coffin of a failure, and would keep going in the way I have. I got grabbed by a gauntleted hand, a spiked chain pulled at my spine, and the armored figure tried to strike me down. It was here that I noticed that Sanaa arrived. I instructed them to get out of here to try and protect them, and then found myself back in the room we performed the ritual in. Sanaa was unconscious near me, so I resuscitated her. She suffered a terrible wound attempting to save me, but she survived. I also felt my connection with Gorum fade, my left hand turned to rust, and my holy symbol burned me when I touched it. It was here that I found out we could enter everyone else's visions to wake them up. We started by attempting to enter Armiger Sanguine's vision, as she was growing fur like some sort of beast, but her roars repelled us, so we went into Lictor Zeal's vision instead, in case the Marilith she kept imprisoned inside her broke out and went on a rampage. We found Lictor Zeal chained up and bleeding out at the foot of a flight of stairs. We stopped his bleeding, and he climbed up to the top with heavy resistance from the chains pulling on him. We were then able to wake him, and we then entered Armiger Sanguine's vision. We found her in a bestial state, as we were buried by worms. The Promised Land. Some quick scolding got Armiger Sanguine to return to normal, and we were removed from the vision. That left only Gregorios Jude for us to awaken, with just the four of us assembled. I did not see the rest of the visions the other associates experienced, and if they want to describe them, they may feel free to make an addendum to do so.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

So It Is Written, So it Shall Be Done

Sot It Is Written, So it Shall Be Done
Date	11/15/24
Storyteller	Doug
Tier	Various
Player Characters	Victoria Honeystride, Zeal, Sanguine, Sanaa
Rewards	200 xp, various boons
Result	Success?
Author	Victoria (Isaac Davenport transcribed)
Downtime	0

We enter Councilman Jude's vision, and find ourselves in a bizarre dimension that is barely holding itself together, a stone structure with a cocoon standing before us. It stands to reason that Councilman Jude is in the cocoon. The eyes of every single deity that was channeled for the ritual and a bunch of their followers are glaring down at us at once. A bunch of unfamiliar creatures and a cloud of hellish influences approach, clearly not happy with us being here. I feel the presences of all the deities here attempting to invade my mind, and I feel the blessings of Zon Kuthon, Cayden Cailean, Lamashtu, The First Tree, Santa Claus, Shelyn, and Calistria flood into me, giving me strength. It looks like the rest of us are also empowered by the divine. Sanaa notices chains coming out of some of the rocks floating around here. That sounds important. While she inspects the chains, Sanguine and I deal with some of the individual enemies, Lictor Zeal takes on the cloud of fiends, and Sanaa inspects the chains. None of the enemies here are able to put up much of a fight for us with the strength of our blessings. There are four sets of chains around the dimension, including the ones on the cocoon that Councilman Jude is in. We receive binding vows tied to different domains. Armiger Sanguine gets the vow of knowledge, and has to read a new book every day. Sanaa receives the vow of nature, and has to give more to nature than they take. Lictor Zeal receives the vow of might, and cannot sleep unless he's exhausted himself, and I receive the vow of destruction. Everything that is not mine breaks after I finish using it. I had to ask one of my recruits to transcribe this log so it would not disintegrate in my hands, gods know I tried many times to write it myself. This frees Councilman Jude, and he looks ancient and tired. When we took on our vows, a mark appeared on our bodies, and Councilman Jude is covered in them. He must have taken on so many vows. We return to our mortal strength as he is freed, ending the ritual. We return to the mortal world, and we need the assistance of Chrys to open the door, because the doorknob broke as I tried to use it. I also walk away from this feeling a stronger connection to Kurgess. I know not what this means, but I think this whole ordeal is a sign that I am no longer fit to be a champion of Gorum. I shall spend some time doing some soul-searching, maybe Kurgess is a better fit if he likes me so much.