Chronero - Single Player DnD

Ok, I'll take the exhaustion and travel all night to get back to town. 

You push throughout the night, not wanting to stay near the Rat Base nor wanting to camp out in the forest for risk of Deep Dwellers attacking. Finally Tomoe and gang reach town. It feels a bit strange. They haven't been able to take down their foe and was defeated (for all intents and purposes) but they came out of it relatively unscathed. The only thing that was severely wounded and did not heal was Kate's self-confidence. That and Tomoe is cursed but it is still better than what it could have been.

What do you do now?

Did we meet back up with Priya and Jamacia?  If not and it's still early in the day Tomoe, though exhausted and desiring rest, will go to their tavern hangout to see how they are doing.

If  its closer to evening , Tomoe would urge the party to rest.

It's morning when you reach town. Jamaica and Priya had met back up with you shortly after exiting the Rat Base. They traveled to the city with you and are currently with the party.

Oh, right I think you said they met back up. Well then, I guess Tomoe will see that Kate is rested after her death experience and see if her companions know of a temple of Romal in town were I can find a way to get the curse lifted.

Kate is sent back to previous hideout to rest while Tomoe and gang look for a temple of Romel. Being one of the regular gods and not a heretical god, it is fairly easy to find such a temple closer to the Brass Keep.

The half-orc priest says, "Hail adventurer. How may we help you today?"

Tomoe, not being the kind to normally mince words, simply states I believe I have been cursed. I need to know what I can do to lift it.

"Cursed? Curses are quite complicated. What exactly did you do to get cursed?" The priest states flatly.

A very close friend of mine was in a duel to the death. She lost and I made sure not to interfere with the duel. After she was....beheaded...I used a potion I had acquired from the Apothecary to bring her back, as I refuse to lose more friends.

The priest says, "And by doing so, you broke the spirit of the duel and gained the displeasure of Romel. Ever since Romel once lost to Shade, the god of trickery due to a loop hole in the rules of a competition, he has gained a stronger dislike for any who break any agreement made in his name." He pauses and says, "If the cause of the curse is indeed Romel himself rather than a mortal individual or a group, which I expect to be the case. Then there is a somewhat clear way of removing it though it is far from easy.

"What you need to do is to gain The Grand Warrior's (Romel's other name) forgiveness. The god of thunder, war and heroism likes great feats of bravery and heroism. There are a few things you can do as a show of such heroism. You can show great combat prowess by either being victorious in single combat against a powerful foe, you can fight and defeat a large number of foes alone. You may also gain his forgiveness by undertaking a journey for his favor. This usually involves eradicating a significant base of cultists of Korcaxal, The Blood-mad Warlord, heretical god of war, genocide and rage; hunting down or killing a champion of Korcaxal or a former champion of Romel who became corrupted by heresy. You may also gain his favor by liberating the treasures of his old lost temples from heretic clutches and bringing the treasures to current temples."

Did Lucia follow Tomoe to this temple? If she did, does she have any input? 

Tomoe sighs Very well. But that is alot of options. You are the expert, which do you think would garner the most success from my efforts? And, do any of these tasks, besides the obvious one, can I do accompanied with my companions? 

Lucia came with Tomoe but she remains quiet throughout all this because her understanding of religion is from all the various cases she's worked. It is far from complete and she isn't proficient. She would rather let the Priest do the talking here for now.

"There is only the eradication of cultists and the recovery of lost treasure that can be done with companions." The priest says, "The most chance of success is from slaying a fallen champion of Romel or to eradicate a large enough base of Korcaxal, though with the latter, what is a suitable size is ambiguous. I would recommend you liberate the treasures of Romel from the ancient city of Lower Halmadrium. It is northwest of here across the river. It was once a large city dedicated to the worship of Romel. However, it has been lost and consumed by the forest over the decade after a mining accident caused a gas leak that forced the in habitants to flee. Many that refused to leave their homes died to the toxic gases. It has most probably fallen to the hands of heretics now. Liberating that town or getting the treasures from the temple there should be enough to gain The Grand Warrior's Forgiveness."

Is the toxic gas something I should be prepared for? Or do you think it will have dissipated by now? And what can I expect from these heretics and cultists?

The priest says, "The toxic gas, I believe should have dissipated by now so unless you enter deep in the old mines, I doubt it is something to worry about. As for the cultists, that is much harder to say. I have no idea what to expect from them but given the history of the location, I would say that it is more likely for the heretics to worship Revan, Morpheus or Korcaxal."

Hmmm, can you tell me about the heretical gods they worship?

The priest explains the gods.

Revan, The Vindictive Seer  is the evil god of necromancy, revenge and divination. His symbol is a cyclops skull with a snake wrapped around it. Believe it or not, he was once a normal god, part of Exal's pantheon. Before Ghaster and Shade became the respective gods of Death Domain and Trickery Domain, there was the goddess Melia of Trickery Domain, the god Halo who was the god of Light Domain along with Araph and there was Revan who was the god of Death Domain. Revan hungered after more power and sought to overthrow the weakened Exal and become the king of gods. Halo and Melia attempted to stop him but they were slain by the vile god. Enraged at the loss of his friends, Araph defeated his former friend Revan and banished him to the deepest reaches of the Shadow Realm. There he waits he bides his time and waits for an opportunity to break free and claim Exal's throne.

Korcaxal , The Blood-mad Warlord, is an evil god of War, Destruction, and Genocide . His symbol is the head of a trident pointed downward with the middle prong impaling the decapitated and eye-less head of a human. He is a god of primal fury and battlefield brutality. Many heretical civilizations of the past worshiped him. They would often sacrifice countless victims to satisfy the blood god. His champions were known to exhibit frightening ferocity on the battlefield and were known to go into rampages that decimated large chunks of opposing units.

During the description of Korcaxal, Lucia softly comments, "Sounds quite rough."

Morpheus is perhaps the oldest and the strongest of the evil gods. He is the evil god of death, mourning and darkness. His symbol is an eye staring down a field with dots representing people. The iris of the eye is shaped like a man with four arms. His followers operate with cold precision, almost emotionless in their work. Not much is known about Morpheus but it is rumored that even the lesser gods fear him. It is quite terrifying how easily one can fall into heresy with him for Morpheus promises to grief stricken souls the opportunity to bring back those who had left the mortal coil. The returned slowly lose their humanity and their inhibitions, leaving only their goals and obsessions behind, with no empathy, humanity or sense of justice to temper the aspirations. This turns the returned into truly frightening creatures as all the passion and ingenuity of humanoids are left to reek havoc without any of the humanity to pull them back.

Tomoe upon hearing about the symbol of Morpheus realizes that this is the dark god with whom she made the contract to bring Ingrid back.

Morpheus and Korcaxal's data has been added to the campaign page.

Tomoe is silent for what is probobly an unusual and awkward amount of time as she mentally processes her next goal and the realization of what she may have done to her adopted sister in her grief addled state. She keeps herself from getting physically sick and refocuses on the task at hand. Many things must be felt with. All in time.

It wont be until the priest or Lucia call to her that she would snap back to her surroundings. 

With Tomoe having gone silent, Lucia prods her, "Chief? You alright?"

Hmmm? Oh, yes. Just alot ro think about. Tomoe bows to the priest and thanks him for his help before leading Lucia back to the current hideout to rest and discuss the paths ahead.