resources:adventure:tangle_with_a_tyrant [Memento Mundi]

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====== Tangle with a Tyrant ======
===== Initial Brief =====

The church of the warrior puts out discreet enquiries to adventurers to help with a source of major embarrassment for the church.

Further enquiry from the right sort of interested people will find that the requests come primarily from the new high priest of the grand church in which the mayor was dedicated champion of the warrior, the church once lead by the now Tyrant of Liarus, Samuel.  Generous compensation is offered to those who put themselves forward to wipe out the church's shame using any means necessary.

===== PCs =====

[[user:matthewa:pc:karlos_farblade|Karlos Farblade]]- Matthew A\\
[[user:swampselkie:pc:senta_fernbach|Senta Fernbach]]- Sally\\
[[user:jamesw:pc:aaron_fairway|Aaron Fairway]]- James W\\
[[user:joew:pc:brother_miller|Brother Miller]]- Joe\\
[[user:susannahc:pc:felicity_morning|Felicity Morning]] - Susannah\\


===== Summary =====
Informed of a plan to weaken Samuel by the new high priest of Samuels old temple the party set out on a boat towards Thonis with the objective of getting the priests of the Dreaming Ocean to interfere with his sleep.  At the bottom of the ocean near the heart of the dream they manage to convince a group of the priests to bring them into lucid dreaming.

In the distance they see a great dessicated figure that they surmise to in some way represent where they can find Samuel.  Fighting against the resistance of the ocean to directed change by those who don't understand it Brother Miller becomes seperated from the rest of the party and notices that the Warrior's tatoo is guiding him in a different direction.  As the party regroup with him they decide to make a mad dash in the direction of the tatoo's pointing, where they find themselves in a new and different dreamscape.  Surrounded by figures building themselves up to spectacularly stupid decisions where amongst the others Brother Miller spots an almost childlike figure of Samuel looking wide eyed at an older man, as the rest of the party deal with the ways those who they have not dissuaded produce or become monsters Brother Miller listens to what he surmises to be Samuel being led astray by the leader and watches as they both gradually fade away.  Emerging from the dream they confer with one of the priests of the ocean who confirms that where they found themselves was certainly not the dream of any normal living person.

Returning from the ocean and heading towards Margush the party hunt from concensus patch to concensus patch, seeking the water spirit the first laid Samuel low and took his water.  Along the way they run across a curious Drake who seems vaguely fascinated by the party and flits overhead as they head onwards to what turns out to be the location of the correct water spirit, whether at their behest to help them or just coincidentally was slightly hard to say.

Treating with the water spirit they agree to do it a favour in exchange for some form of help against Samuel himself and set out to lay low one of its cousins (all the time the sword on Broth Miller's arm points towards it even as they walk away and meet with the next spirit).  Attempting to treat with the other spirit proves unfruitful as it simply doesn't want anything that they have to offer it, finally they lose patience with its constant "hilarious" pranks and beat it into the ground.  As it starts to disperse back into the water Karlos performs a ritual to drink it and hold some of its power and water within himself.  Returning to the first spirit it is clearly uncomfortable with what Karlos has done and makes him swear to release the water before agreeing to help them by bringing water to the battlefield of their choice.

In Margush the party learn both of the way to find the pool that will make many as one and the nature of the challenge to the Faerie Queen.

Heading out into the forest the party begin to follow the path of palest trees that they have heard would lead them to the pool.  It quickly becomes clear that Brother Miller's tattoo is pointing them in a different direction but they forge ahead anyway, sure that they need whatever edge they can get against Samuel.  Shortly the party find their way blocked by a group of boisterous foxes who seem to be trying to convince them to turn round and go a different way.  Determined to forge ahead the party slay most of them, undeterred by their short spontaneous bouts of being on fire before finally recognising them as probably sacred animals of the warrior and both patching up the last few still bleeding ones and apologising to the corpses.  At this point they head off into the heart of the forest following Brother Miller's tattoo.

In the heart of the forest past some great and ancient animals they meet the true Queen of the Forest an ancient spirit of the place who tells them of her encounter with Lynndis and the other founders back in the day:
"Once upon a time, four of your founders came to my forest. In those days the forests were dense and stretched as far as the eye could see. They were looking for something, although when we first met, neither of us knew that it was I that held what they sought.
Darak was an intense man, he knew what he wanted and he had a way of making others want to give it to him, although his charm had no hold on me.
Allyssa was kind, and loved my Forest. I enjoyed her company while I had it.
Abraxis was cold, like something which had been broken for a very long time. But she clearly cared for her friends, which endeared her to me.
Oh but Lynndis, was glorious. The most beautiful women I had ever laid eyes on. Our time together was short, but I loved her, and if nothing else I know she //enjoyed// me.
Eventually they realised that I was the keeper of the heart of the forest and asked if I would give it to them, so that they could use it to found their city. I refused. I know they argued later, considered stealing it from me, but Lynndis and Allyssa had such a strong sense of justice and would never allow that. So in the middle of the night, Darack and Abraxis came to steal it from me. This might have worked better had Lynndis not been in my bed, and of course sent them packing with a bloody nose each. She could never stand people doing harm to others."

She then shows them two visions of the founders, in the first they watch as Lynndis returns a stolen sword to its rightful owner before duelling him, in the second the fight against the other founders as followers of a warlord as Lynndis duels him and lectures him on what he could be doing to improve himself.  Fighting with all their might the party hack down the Tender in the vision and feel deeply uncomfortable about what they have done.

Revelation out of the way the party decide the obvious thing to do is head back to the pool, Felicity refinds the path that they left and from there they encounter a variety of horrifying amalgamated creatures.  Realising that this is what is meant by many becoming as one they head onwards to get a curious look at the pool anyway and quickly flee at the point that its guardians start to move towards them.

Lastly they head out to find the Faerie Queen (once again ignoring Brother Miller's tattoo which seems to be pointing in the direction of Liarus).  Realising that they need a cause to challenge the challenge the faerie queen for they decide that the waning true Queen of the Forest deserves aid and challenge her to win her aid for the real queen of the forest.  Brother Miller steps forward as the champion of the body whilst the rest of the party undertake the challenge of the mind against her jester.  Whilst Karlos throws a significant amount of water into the duel Brother Miller refuses to capitalise on the moments of weakness it induces, in fact dragging Samuel out of the worst of the stream when he is beset by the torrent stored in Karlos' gullet. Rather than fighting to defeat Samuel physically Brother Miller prays upon his doubts and misgivings about what he has done until finally he collapses crying dry tears, failing to defend himself against the last few blows.

===== Debrief =====
As Samuel falls, nolonger confident of his own righteousness, Miller and Senta stabilise him and call on the Queen to keep the terms of their challenge.

As they begin the long trek back to Acryn Samuel wakes up slung over Brother Miller's shoulder, stripped of his armour an weapons.  Between them the party manage to impart one major message, the importance making your own moral decisions, particularly in the eyes of the warrior.

The party return with Samuel as their prisoner to just outside Acryn. They call for a representative of the Warrior Church to determine his fate. After a lengthy discussion that he will go in  to exile rather than be sent back to Acryn for an embarassing public trial. He swears an oath to the Warrior never again to harm a human being.

The party are paid by the Church, who seem pleased with their work.

Samuel and Brother Miller go off monster hunting together, starting with a certain water spirit.

{{tag>"tangle with a tyrant" karlos_farblade senta_fernbach aaron_fairway brother_miller felicity_morning adventure}}
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