Just like almost everything in life sometime we things wrong, sometimes its just not in the Stars. Tonight kicks off another adventure for this week where we cover just that – where the stars were not aligned for a teeny-tiny event… If only it were that simple.
So grab your astrolabe and quadrants as we sit back and stargaze in tonight’s adventure!
The high oracle rarely got things wrong and the divinations that came from she and the council of four were as reliable as the sun setting and the moon rising. However, when they get a prediction wrong things start to go pear shaped for the High Oracle and Portent Quartet.
The party find Lumos, a city in turmoil as divinations start to go wrong when the city is run on knowing the outcome of choice at all times. Will the party divine the truth or will their success be not in the stars?
Not in the Stars
516MoNoSt
The party had come to Lumos , the city of prophets during the holiest month where the the council of clerics and mages gathered and gave a profound portent at dusk. These divinations were taken as spoken from the gods themselves and in the hundreds of years that the city had lived by the High Oracle and the Portent Quartet it had prospered.
As they walked down the streets to the ziggurat at the cities centre the atmosphere was charged with a mixture of emotions. Many bore excitement however there was a gnawing and overwhelming sense of apprehension. ‘They were wrong about the rain last week. My crops have started dying thanks to their failed divination’ one man complained to another as they were bartering over the price of seed.
‘I lost everything when I listened to their advice. “Under Tymora’s star” my ass. I lost my home thanks to them when I should have won at the tables.’ another bedraggled man complained as he stood in line to get rations from the church of Ilmater.
Similar stories of bad luck, could be heard throughout the crowds as they moved towards the tall, multileveled building at the city centre and every instance of bad luck was blamed on a failed divination. The party followed the path towards the ziggurat and gathered amongst the crowds kneeling before the steps leading on high to the temple at the pinnacle.
They didn’t wait amongst the chatter for long before the crowd fell silent nearly as one. Looking up a woman dressed in white and gold with four dressed in colours representing the elements of Air, Fire, Earth and Water stood on either side of them.
‘People of Lumos.’ she started, her voice magically amplified to carry across the city. As she spoke the clouds moved away from the centre of the sky above them exposing the full moon.
‘We stand before you your humble servants and we come here to complete the sacred ritual for this year.’ The man representing air walked forward as he raised his hands the clouds were pushed further away from the moon for as far as the eye could see.
‘We bring you the light that the gods bequeath us so that we can open our minds and our hearts.’ the woman representing fire said as she raised her hands to the ground and all the torches, fires and lights went out simultaneously within the city except for a faint brazier at their feet.
‘We sooth your aches and pains.’ the man representing water said as a cloud of mist descended down the steps and washed over those gathered underneath cooling their skin and magically healing aches and pains.
‘And as we offer ourselves to the gods to judge on behalf of this most holy of cities we ask them for guidance in how to live our life for the next cycle.’ the woman representing earth said as she reached outwards and the section of the ziggurat that they stood on lifted into the sky and floated higher.
Those gathered started a rhythmic chant almost instantaneously and the party found that the words sprung to their mind where they were unknown until this very moment. For several minutes the oracle and the quartet of diviners floated above the crowd while they chanted. Then suddenly the platform descended and the stones knitted together to form the steps into the temple itself.
‘The High Oracle will now speak!’ called the quartet together as the woman looked exhaustedly across them, her energy depleted in the short encounter.
‘The…’ she paused for a moment as her booming voice shook. ‘the stars are not aligned…’ she said as she shuffled away from the crowd and into the temple. The quartet stood astonished as the flames returned to the city slowly, the mist evaporated and the clouds started to flow across the sky and full moon as normal.
The fear, panic and calls for mercy that echoed out at that moment would stick in the minds of the party for years to come.
Thanks for joining me for the start of another big week. Don’t forget that I will continue to evolve and expand this adventure each day this week leading up to the reveal this weekend. So don’t forget to come back each day this week to stay up to date with how this adventure will unfold. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 