King of Kings Session 7 After Action Report

 King of Kings has RETURNED, or well it returned a few days ago, the session was last Friday. But I've been rather busy since then with Things and haven't had time to write up a session report for it.

Dramatis Personae

Ishthyromeda the Small, level one amazon

Kusa, level one cleric of the exiled and half-dead foreign goddess Nasitu-Neb

Manchugo Coldeswain, level one cleric dedicated to Damir, foreign god of the trade routes

Rohm'Daan, level one cleric dedicated to Anzhalar, a local chthonic god of subterranean flame

Zana the Charlatan, level one magic-user

To begin with, treasure from the previous session was handled, resulting in 85 drachmae being given to each of the five players present (technically a bit wonky since most of these players weren't at the previous session but it all evens out in the end). Clerics receive 76 after the tithe was taken off. BUT after Housekeeping from the unresolved session from months back was handled, things actually got started in earnest.

It was a fine and sunny day, and a holy day at that! The festival of Jumhura, the Rebel Saint, He Who Broke Spears on His Knee, He Who Spoke with the Voice of the Sun was here! The whole of Tabur was abuzz, and the five adventurers decided to make way to Temple Town for the festival. Shortly before leaving, however, Kusa went to the group's patron Farzaneh Taburi to hand over the clay lamp in the shape of a huma bird that she began work on some time before. The group decided to take a less direct route, leaving via the northern gate of the city and traveling on a wilderness road, astride their horse-drawn cart.

On the road, however, they came across a horrid figure... Jamshid, the mercantile rival of Zana from his previous life as a less than successful merchant. The muscular black-bearded man seemed to be visiting Temple Town to take advantage of all of the captive customers during the festival. Immediately, Manchugo and Zana started yelling at him, and a shouting match ensued where Jamshid mocked them and made only small shifts out of the way of the cart. The loud yelling attracted a group of goatherds, who at first were concerned but very quickly took to resting on their staves to watch the situation go down. Ishthyromeda rode up ahead and attempted to push at Jamshid's cart with her javalin, but he budged only slightly. The group considered ramming his cart to push him off the road, but didn't act on it. Kusa ran up ahead and asked for a ride on Jamshid's cart, which Jamshid gave... and then Kusa turned to look at her friends' cart behind her, showing off her firestarter in her hand. For the sole reason of Zana's backstory rivalry, they collectively decided to just make this the worst day for Jamshid.

In short time, the two carts both reach their destination: Temple Town, more properly called the Hallowed Halls of the Holy Mountain, the ritual epicenter for Elburz satrapy and the headquarters of the temple bureaucracy for the whole of the east. The wide plaza of Temple Town was teeming with the raucous crowd, and just as the group arrived the mummified corpse of Saint Jumhura, curled up with his bony legs drawn up to his chest, was borne out of the fire temple at the center of the ritual plaza to be taken up to the cliffs where the mummies of the eastern saints reside... And at the same time, Kusa set fire to Jamshid's cart and quickly dashed away into the crowd. From this point on, the group somewhat split up: Kusa, Manchugo, and Rohm'Daan dashed over to the market-temple of Damir in Temple Town, while Ishthyromeda haggled in the crowd and Zana focused on his rival's fire.

Their messing about with Jamshid prompted a lot of memes to be made... this is only one of them!

Zana (and Kusa somewhat): As the fire grew and blazed ever-larger, more and more of the people in the crowd noticed and began to panic, and the guards posted at the gates to Temple Town's mausoleum-laden depths dashed over to attempt to put out the fire. For setting the fire, Kusa received 20 XP. Zana stood by and watched as the fire raged, and when it began to dwindle down, he stepped over and helped put out its last remaining embers, turning to mock his rival as he sat on the ground staring fearfully at the ashen remains of his cart. For mocking his rival and putting out the fire, Zana received 20 XP.

Ishthyromeda: Ish haggled with a sacrifice-seller in the crowd to buy a goat from him, and did so for only 8 drachmae!

Kusa, Manchugo, and Rohm'Daan: Visited the market-temple of Damir, which is operated by the former master conman turned... well, he's still a conman, but now its part of his official job, Mansour Jir. He is a young man with a short cropped black beard, and almost immediately took to selling trinkets to the trio. Rohm'Daan bought a tooth of Saint Melcayak, the blind and de-fanged dogman saint, while Manchugo sat in awe of Mansour's fame as a conman-merchant, and then began to explain the importance of mercantile activity to Kusa and sold a small basalt idol of the Conquering King to her.

After all of the above, the crowd had dissipated and the group decided it was time to bring the day to a close. Rather than making the journey back to Tabur, they decided to rest in one of the two pilgrims' houses in Temple Town, marching over to the Snail's Trail. Within, they found a small dining area with a wide clinic-hospital off to the side where groaning men and women could be seen on low-lying beds. There was a counter toward the back of the entrance hall, with a large snail's shell resting atop it and a woman in a thin purple veil and green robes standing behind it. Kusa, Manchugo, Rohm'Daan, and Zana each bought a room for the night (for 12 drachmae each), while Ishthyromeda slept on the cart with her newly bought goat and her horses.