1233 AD: Demons and Imams

 1233 Adventure Oracle

Cabal Legacy—10% (38, no adventure)

Seeker—10% (44, no adventure)

Regional Produce—10% (12, no adventure)

Multiple Sites—10% (20 no adventure)

Road—10% (39, no adventure)

Tribunal Border—30% (85,  no adventure)

Unsafe—10% (56, no adventure)

Regio—30% (16, adventure!)

This is actually perfect, because if it hadn’t produced an adventure, I was going to do a voluntary one near the end of the year. 

Difficulty—7, Hard, EF 15. 

Origin—8, Religion. At this EF, it’s recommended to be local priests or monks. 

Timing—9, my choice. We’re going for Autumn, as that will give Jabril two more seasons to master Demon’s Eternal Oblivion. 

Complexity—2, simple, 1 challenge. 

Type—85, Thriller/Wilderness. 

We’re opting in, although I’m mildly disappointed it’s only 1 challenge. 

Omens—1, very good. 

 

Spring and Summer 1233

 

Jabril spent the first part of the year practicing Demon's Eternal Oblivion, determined to master it as well as he could before once again entering the regio.

 

Practice xp: 10+4=14, bringing our Mastery score to 2. I select Penetration for our next mastery ability. Two more seasons and I should be able to add Adaptive Casting, which is probably as far as I'll go with this particular spell. 

 

Autumn 1233

Rescue at Abu Sharef

 

As autumn came, so too did dire news from Siwa village. The local imam had been missing for some days, and the elders of the village called on him to investigate. Jabril was vaguely aware of the mildly Islamic leanings of the townsfolk. Their faith was not enough to generate a Dominion aura except for during the call to prayer, when he studiously avoided the town. Being a feral child, he had not properly encountered the Dominion until his teenage years, when Rolf had taken him into Cairo proper. Even now, he was more sensitive to it than most magi, and found himself afflicted by unpleasant headaches under its weight, and so preferred to avoid it. 

That being said, despite his pagan leanings, he had nothing but respect for Islamic scholars and imams. The chief qadi who had visited so many years ago had been a pious man, and impressed him greatly with his knowledge of the divine. So he had noted with some interest when a new imam from Cairo took over the mosque in Siwa village at the beginning of the year. He was a young man, but learned, by the name of Abdullah, and had apparently proven himself something of a firebrand, inveighing against the sins of the raiders who haunted the oasis, and calling upon the people of the village to drive them out of Abu Sharef and the valley overall. 

 

So great had been his rhetoric that many of the zaggaleh that did not work for Jabril had joined him in an impromptu militia and made for Abu Sharef some days ago. The zaggaleh had returned--but young Abdullah had not, and the zaggaleh, upon being asked his whereabouts, professed confusion, saying he had been there one moment and gone the next as they approached the ruins, upon which the zaggaleh had retreated with their leader gone. To the people of the town, this sounded like something magical--which meant it was Jabril's job, as far as they were concerned. Jabril, for once, rather agreed, because this sounded to him very much like it might have something to do with the regio that lay sidereal across the valley.

 

And so, he commanded his turb teams across the valley to carry out regular patrols to see if they could find the imam, while he set out on foot towards Abu Sharef to investigate himself, using his standard PeIg spell to keep the sun from oppressing him too much. Near the old ruins, he came upon the tracks of the zaggaleh, and noted a set of footprints that seemed to disappear, then reappear after a short distance back towards the town, then continue disappearing and reappearing until at last he found himself at the collapsed walls of the old town. The Zenata were nowhere to be seen, but he crept quietly into the boundaries of the town all the same.

It was altogether good he did, for within a few minutes he beheld a much worse sight than the Amazigh raiders. Two tall ghuls moved through the ruins, one, he noted with a grimace, carrying what looked like a human arm broken off at the elbow. Rather than tangle with them for the moment, Jabril continued on to the lesser temple, looking for another way to enter the regio. He surmised that if the young imam was still alive, he would be within the regio since Jabril had seen neither hide nor hair of him since the tracks.

Entering the temple, he found a great altar and a door behind it, similar to the one at Bilad al-Rum, with the door lying wide open. Beyond it, he could see the strange and shadowy particles that  marked the boundary between the world of men and Shadow Siwa. This time, though, he noted that they were peculiarly streaked with gold, and guessed perhaps it was the result of his previous actions. Beyond, he could hear the sounds of chanted prayer and growling.

Hastening to enter, Jabril found himself in a shadowy, but oddly far more well-maintained than the real temple. A flash of light drew his eyes to the image of the young imam, scarred but unbroken, menaced by three ghuls, shouting a prayer at them. Seemingly cowed by his pure faith, but unwilling to give up their prey, the monstrous creatures seemed ready to pounce. Jabril leapt to action before they could, charging the nearest one and pushing it to the earth with the sheer hardiness of his body, holding it down even as it struggled and clawed at him. Though quickly surrounded, he was able to free a hand and chant through gritted teeth the words of Demon’s Eternal Oblivion, causing all three demons to scream in agony as his magic tore through them. 

Silence fell as the spell took hold and the demons dissolved, save for the landing of the two young men. Abdullah was too grateful to question his savior’s powers nor his lighting of the ritual flame within the temple before they left, but as they returned, Jabril knew it was unlikely the young imam would forget what he had seen. Hopefully this was not for ill. 

Challenge: Per+Hunt (specialty, rolled 8+0+3=11, cast Let The Sun Not Bother Me This Day to add mag 2 and spent a confidence to succeed), Dex+Stealth (rolled 9+0+3=12, spent a confidence to succeed), Sta+Athletics (rolled 2+2+2=6, multicast Demon’s Eternal Oblivion to add mag 2x3=6 and spent a confidence to succeed). Three successes. 

Results: Total success. The imam is retrieved and the flame at Abu Sharef lit. Jabril gains a reward +2 xp, in addition to 8 from difficulty+challenge (for a total of 13), and an equivalent amount of confidence. The reward is banked. 5 xp goes to Perdo, increasing it to 7, and 4 each goes to Athletics and Hunt.

Winter 1233

After his experience last season, Jabril thought it best to focus on his continuing mastery, and dedicated himself to practice. 

Mastery xp: 5+2=7 xp to DEO

Aging roll: rolled 5-2=3, meaning Jabril’s apparent age increases by 1.