Iconoclasm
02-09-2015, 02:20 AM
(Hello! This thread is something of a placeholder, where I'll be posting the opening scene for a game of GURPS I'm hosting for Schazer, Elpie, MrGuy, and Paranoia. I'll also probably post recaps here after each session, and there'll be a reference here in the OP for in-game knowledge that occurs to me that characters should have but players may not.)
It's quiet as the minutes tick down to midnight, but not supernaturally so. It's almost disappointing, as the scene in every other respect is suitably foreboding and mysterious: nine hooded figures stand by the lakeshore, each with a cast iron bowl at waist height on a wicker stand in front of them; a tenth, in rather more ornate robes, waits between a lazily-bubbling cauldron and a well-stoked brazier, a hand gripping one end of a metal rod that rests in the heart of the fire. That tenth figure is the Master of Initiates, whom none of you have met personally before. Important members with a hand in the group's operations tend to stay well out of the public eye, so until now you've only met with recruiters and other initiates; it's not until you've been deemed trustworthy enough to undergo the initiation ceremony that you're allowed to interact with the group proper, and the Master will be the first you speak to as well as your de facto commander.
The other nine people you're more familiar with, because four of them are you and the other five are initiates that were recruited at around the same time you were. You've gotten to know each other a bit in the last months, in part because the group encourages fraternity between members and in part because you've just spent a lot of nights in each other's company.
At the far left – though you can only tell by general build and voice, of course – is Alesandra Liara. A human woman, she's what she likes to call a jack-of-all-trades; she was a member of a thieves' ring in Maras until fairly recently, but is notoriously evasive about why she isn't anymore. Nevertheless, she's likable and extroverted; pleasant to be around, but well known to abuse psych recreationally.
The second-shortest supplicant, after Tiliwo, is a dwarf by the name of Klein Schwarzfelsen. It would be impossible not to know he was a wizard just by looking at him, and impossible not to know he's a prodigious, nay pioneering, summoner as soon as he opens his mouth. He likes to monopolize conversations, and depending on who's describing him, he's either ambitious or megalomaniacal.
A kobold called Glenn Merriweather is next; he's an archer, but more a hunter than a soldier. He's a bit of an odd one out among the initiates, in that he joined less because of a personal zeal and more because the zeal of his long-time friend. That friend was initiated some time sooner than Glenn was, and was sadly killed on his first mission. Glenn is very friendly but a bit of a follower, and seems to be trying to find a surrogate for his lost confidante.
Another human, Clara Mansfield, stands between Glenn and Evangeline. She's actually the daughter of an apparently-important member of the group – not that you know who – and firmly believes the world will be a better place for its existence. She's extremely excited to be initiated, and despite being the youngest of the group by far, she's also a natural leader and a capable swordswoman.
Near the end of the line, just to the left of Zed, is the towering figure of the only elven initiate. Daelyan Alionorwineth (who everyone else calls Dylan, much to his quiet consternation) is unlike the rest of you training to become a priest; it's occurred to you all at one time or another how strange it must be to join an organization that refuses to name itself to worship a being whose name you are forbidden to know (and whose blessings, it's rumored among the initiates, are sometimes more than even its most strong-minded devotees can handle), but if it is, he doesn't let it on.
As the moon finally reaches its zenith, the Master of Initiates begins to speak. Her voice is low and slightly cracked with age, but easily-heard enough over the quiet nighttime sounds of insects and crackling flame.
"This will be brief. You have all pledged your loyalty before, all proved your trustworthiness before. There is no need now for the trappings and bindings of unnecessary ritual, for those are the tools of the churches that seek to destroy us and subjugate the world's people. You will simply be inducted, officially introduced to your new life and tied to your new family. However, to enter Sanctum, you must bear our master's mark."
She twists her wrists and raises her arms slightly, her rod still nestled in the coals; between the fire and the moonlight, you can see a knotted mass of scars on each of her wrists. They resemble a very stylized but blank eye, with a vertical line above and below, and you can only assume that it's the mark you'll be bearing. The fact that she finally draws the rod out of the brazier, revealing its tip to be a brand that matches her scars, certainly lends credence to that assumption.
"However, as most of you will continue to act and operate in the outside world, you cannot bear it on your flesh. You know the value of secrecy by now. Instead, you will bear it on your spirit."
She plunges the brand into the black liquid, which hisses noisily and stops bubbling; she withdraws it and taps it against the cauldron's side, whereupon the branding end reshapes into a large ladle. She scoops a portion out and begins pouring a measure into each of your basins. As she walks, she continues.
"Once each initiate has their bowl filled, I want you all to place your right hands into the fluid simultaneously and hold them there. You will know when to remove them."
As the basins fill, you can't help but notice that the potion or whatever it is neither reflects light from the fire nor from the moon and stars. As the last one is tended to, the Master returns to her original position and nods. Several glances are exchanged between the initiates, and with variable amounts of hesitance, you all take the plunge at more or less the same time.
The liquid is thin and oily, but more importantly it burns like acid and freezes like ice. Glenn yelps quietly and a couple others hiss, but nobody pulls their hand back out. Oddly, you notice it only hurts the back of your hand, not the palm or fingers, and after several seconds, that starts to fade too. Once the searing pain is replaced by simple coldness, you all gradually decide it's time to see what's happened: for a second or two, your skin looks as scarred as the Master's had, but that quickly disappears, leaving your hands seemingly identical to their appearance before the rite. Some of you do notice that you can see the mark traced in black like a tattoo on your hand and others', but only out of the very corner of your eye. If your focus is anywhere near it, it vanishes.
(You all gain the -1 point disadvantage Supernatural Features (Mark of Oblivion), and to compensate, 1 character point. Neat!)
"And with that, your initiation is complete. You may enter Sanctum, but more importantly, you are now and forever one of us."
Before anyone can speak, she turns towards the lake and strides towards it, beckoning you all to follow. As close as she was to begin with, it's only a few steps before she's wading into the shallows and quickly sinking out of sight. Clara is the quickest to follow, confidently trotting into the water, and by degrees, the rest of you join her. As soon as you enter the lake, you realize that a half-inch thick bubble of air has formed around you and your belongings, keeping you dry (if not free from the muck and mud of the lakebottom). The water is still too murky to do much more than follow the vague figure of the Master as she descends, but even as the water closes above you, you seem to have no trouble breathing or moving.
Soon, even the claustrophobic among the group get relief, as you pass a much larger barrier than your personal bubbles; it seems the majority of the lake is artificially empty, kept magically dry and aerated for the purposes of housing what looks for all the world like a very small town. There's a cluster of larger, boxy buildings at the end where the mouth of the River Nur widens to form the lake itself, and an ornate temple – all circles and hexagons – at the center, but the rest of the structures are scattered haphazardly across the lake floor. Most look like workshops, but a not-insignificant number are surrounded by various fungal and subterranean crops. There are a few people working the muddy fields, and a few more moving between the other buildings or going to the temple, but overall the scene is very quiet.
The master leads you all towards the buildings that look for all the world like well-maintained tenement houses and continues speaking.
"Here in Sanctum, all the basic necessities will be provided for you whenever you are not asked to attend to tasks outside. You will be housed and fed; we have a library for the studious among you and various facilities for those of you who ply a craft. We actually have a number of dedicated artisans who live in Sanctum full-time to provide for our operatives, and for basics like maintenance of your equipment and traveling supplies, you are welcome to speak to them. We have no currency here, so anything you feel you need, you may ask for. However, most of their time is devoted to tasks essential to our goals, so anything frivolous or extraneous, you will have to provide for yourself."
This goes on for a few minutes with her explaining the basics of life in Sanctum as you go; it seems to essentially boil down to being given free reign whenever you're not doing something for the group – you're not even required to live in Sanctum itself, as you can be contacted through your marks – so long as you're available when required.
The lecture has essentially finished as you reach what doesn't just look like tenement housing but functions as it as well, and she encourages the group to familiarize themselves with their new homes.
"However, I will need a few of you to come with me. Tiliwo, Zedericht, Evangeline, and Para, if you would."
The four of you break off and follow her towards the temple.
"Ordinarily, I would wait longer before giving a task to new initiates, but it seems this is rather urgent. We became aware that Tiliwo encountered something strange not long before she contacted us, and the more I hear about it, the more I have become convinced it is at least an artifact related to our calling, and may even be a fragment of our shattered master's power."
"Tiliwo obviously must go because she should be able to find the island that houses it again, and I'm sending Paras as well to hopefully ward off or mitigate interference from sea-dwellers. Zedericht may have greater tolerance than most for the kind of influence whatever you find will have – although your marks should inure you against the side effects on their own if it is indeed of the origin I hope – and Evangeline I am trusting to keep the rest of you safe on the journey."
At this point you're drawing level with one of the outer towers that ring the temple; she gestures towards the door facing you and it opens, briefly showing a plaque that reads "MASTER LEONA, INITIATES". She leads you into what looks like a small office, crammed with bookshelves, cabinets, and loose parchment. To the left of the door is the start of a spiral staircase, although you'd have to squeeze between a narrow gap in furniture to reach it.
She seats herself behind a cluttered desk, pulling back her hood as she does; Master Leona is an elderly woman, her forehead branded with the same mark as her wrists, and rather unfortunately afflicted with cataracts for someone who apparently spends as much time with written material as she seems to.
"There's not much else I can tell you about where to go or what to look for, since all my information is thirdhand at this point. I'm relying on you all to discover what I can't devote diviners to. To that end, and because even I'm not sure what you might end up doing or needing, I'm willing to let you take another of the initiates with you if you choose. I can also answer any questions you have, although there's not much for me to say about your task in particular."
It's quiet as the minutes tick down to midnight, but not supernaturally so. It's almost disappointing, as the scene in every other respect is suitably foreboding and mysterious: nine hooded figures stand by the lakeshore, each with a cast iron bowl at waist height on a wicker stand in front of them; a tenth, in rather more ornate robes, waits between a lazily-bubbling cauldron and a well-stoked brazier, a hand gripping one end of a metal rod that rests in the heart of the fire. That tenth figure is the Master of Initiates, whom none of you have met personally before. Important members with a hand in the group's operations tend to stay well out of the public eye, so until now you've only met with recruiters and other initiates; it's not until you've been deemed trustworthy enough to undergo the initiation ceremony that you're allowed to interact with the group proper, and the Master will be the first you speak to as well as your de facto commander.
The other nine people you're more familiar with, because four of them are you and the other five are initiates that were recruited at around the same time you were. You've gotten to know each other a bit in the last months, in part because the group encourages fraternity between members and in part because you've just spent a lot of nights in each other's company.
At the far left – though you can only tell by general build and voice, of course – is Alesandra Liara. A human woman, she's what she likes to call a jack-of-all-trades; she was a member of a thieves' ring in Maras until fairly recently, but is notoriously evasive about why she isn't anymore. Nevertheless, she's likable and extroverted; pleasant to be around, but well known to abuse psych recreationally.
The second-shortest supplicant, after Tiliwo, is a dwarf by the name of Klein Schwarzfelsen. It would be impossible not to know he was a wizard just by looking at him, and impossible not to know he's a prodigious, nay pioneering, summoner as soon as he opens his mouth. He likes to monopolize conversations, and depending on who's describing him, he's either ambitious or megalomaniacal.
A kobold called Glenn Merriweather is next; he's an archer, but more a hunter than a soldier. He's a bit of an odd one out among the initiates, in that he joined less because of a personal zeal and more because the zeal of his long-time friend. That friend was initiated some time sooner than Glenn was, and was sadly killed on his first mission. Glenn is very friendly but a bit of a follower, and seems to be trying to find a surrogate for his lost confidante.
Another human, Clara Mansfield, stands between Glenn and Evangeline. She's actually the daughter of an apparently-important member of the group – not that you know who – and firmly believes the world will be a better place for its existence. She's extremely excited to be initiated, and despite being the youngest of the group by far, she's also a natural leader and a capable swordswoman.
Near the end of the line, just to the left of Zed, is the towering figure of the only elven initiate. Daelyan Alionorwineth (who everyone else calls Dylan, much to his quiet consternation) is unlike the rest of you training to become a priest; it's occurred to you all at one time or another how strange it must be to join an organization that refuses to name itself to worship a being whose name you are forbidden to know (and whose blessings, it's rumored among the initiates, are sometimes more than even its most strong-minded devotees can handle), but if it is, he doesn't let it on.
As the moon finally reaches its zenith, the Master of Initiates begins to speak. Her voice is low and slightly cracked with age, but easily-heard enough over the quiet nighttime sounds of insects and crackling flame.
"This will be brief. You have all pledged your loyalty before, all proved your trustworthiness before. There is no need now for the trappings and bindings of unnecessary ritual, for those are the tools of the churches that seek to destroy us and subjugate the world's people. You will simply be inducted, officially introduced to your new life and tied to your new family. However, to enter Sanctum, you must bear our master's mark."
She twists her wrists and raises her arms slightly, her rod still nestled in the coals; between the fire and the moonlight, you can see a knotted mass of scars on each of her wrists. They resemble a very stylized but blank eye, with a vertical line above and below, and you can only assume that it's the mark you'll be bearing. The fact that she finally draws the rod out of the brazier, revealing its tip to be a brand that matches her scars, certainly lends credence to that assumption.
"However, as most of you will continue to act and operate in the outside world, you cannot bear it on your flesh. You know the value of secrecy by now. Instead, you will bear it on your spirit."
She plunges the brand into the black liquid, which hisses noisily and stops bubbling; she withdraws it and taps it against the cauldron's side, whereupon the branding end reshapes into a large ladle. She scoops a portion out and begins pouring a measure into each of your basins. As she walks, she continues.
"Once each initiate has their bowl filled, I want you all to place your right hands into the fluid simultaneously and hold them there. You will know when to remove them."
As the basins fill, you can't help but notice that the potion or whatever it is neither reflects light from the fire nor from the moon and stars. As the last one is tended to, the Master returns to her original position and nods. Several glances are exchanged between the initiates, and with variable amounts of hesitance, you all take the plunge at more or less the same time.
The liquid is thin and oily, but more importantly it burns like acid and freezes like ice. Glenn yelps quietly and a couple others hiss, but nobody pulls their hand back out. Oddly, you notice it only hurts the back of your hand, not the palm or fingers, and after several seconds, that starts to fade too. Once the searing pain is replaced by simple coldness, you all gradually decide it's time to see what's happened: for a second or two, your skin looks as scarred as the Master's had, but that quickly disappears, leaving your hands seemingly identical to their appearance before the rite. Some of you do notice that you can see the mark traced in black like a tattoo on your hand and others', but only out of the very corner of your eye. If your focus is anywhere near it, it vanishes.
(You all gain the -1 point disadvantage Supernatural Features (Mark of Oblivion), and to compensate, 1 character point. Neat!)
"And with that, your initiation is complete. You may enter Sanctum, but more importantly, you are now and forever one of us."
Before anyone can speak, she turns towards the lake and strides towards it, beckoning you all to follow. As close as she was to begin with, it's only a few steps before she's wading into the shallows and quickly sinking out of sight. Clara is the quickest to follow, confidently trotting into the water, and by degrees, the rest of you join her. As soon as you enter the lake, you realize that a half-inch thick bubble of air has formed around you and your belongings, keeping you dry (if not free from the muck and mud of the lakebottom). The water is still too murky to do much more than follow the vague figure of the Master as she descends, but even as the water closes above you, you seem to have no trouble breathing or moving.
Soon, even the claustrophobic among the group get relief, as you pass a much larger barrier than your personal bubbles; it seems the majority of the lake is artificially empty, kept magically dry and aerated for the purposes of housing what looks for all the world like a very small town. There's a cluster of larger, boxy buildings at the end where the mouth of the River Nur widens to form the lake itself, and an ornate temple – all circles and hexagons – at the center, but the rest of the structures are scattered haphazardly across the lake floor. Most look like workshops, but a not-insignificant number are surrounded by various fungal and subterranean crops. There are a few people working the muddy fields, and a few more moving between the other buildings or going to the temple, but overall the scene is very quiet.
The master leads you all towards the buildings that look for all the world like well-maintained tenement houses and continues speaking.
"Here in Sanctum, all the basic necessities will be provided for you whenever you are not asked to attend to tasks outside. You will be housed and fed; we have a library for the studious among you and various facilities for those of you who ply a craft. We actually have a number of dedicated artisans who live in Sanctum full-time to provide for our operatives, and for basics like maintenance of your equipment and traveling supplies, you are welcome to speak to them. We have no currency here, so anything you feel you need, you may ask for. However, most of their time is devoted to tasks essential to our goals, so anything frivolous or extraneous, you will have to provide for yourself."
This goes on for a few minutes with her explaining the basics of life in Sanctum as you go; it seems to essentially boil down to being given free reign whenever you're not doing something for the group – you're not even required to live in Sanctum itself, as you can be contacted through your marks – so long as you're available when required.
The lecture has essentially finished as you reach what doesn't just look like tenement housing but functions as it as well, and she encourages the group to familiarize themselves with their new homes.
"However, I will need a few of you to come with me. Tiliwo, Zedericht, Evangeline, and Para, if you would."
The four of you break off and follow her towards the temple.
"Ordinarily, I would wait longer before giving a task to new initiates, but it seems this is rather urgent. We became aware that Tiliwo encountered something strange not long before she contacted us, and the more I hear about it, the more I have become convinced it is at least an artifact related to our calling, and may even be a fragment of our shattered master's power."
"Tiliwo obviously must go because she should be able to find the island that houses it again, and I'm sending Paras as well to hopefully ward off or mitigate interference from sea-dwellers. Zedericht may have greater tolerance than most for the kind of influence whatever you find will have – although your marks should inure you against the side effects on their own if it is indeed of the origin I hope – and Evangeline I am trusting to keep the rest of you safe on the journey."
At this point you're drawing level with one of the outer towers that ring the temple; she gestures towards the door facing you and it opens, briefly showing a plaque that reads "MASTER LEONA, INITIATES". She leads you into what looks like a small office, crammed with bookshelves, cabinets, and loose parchment. To the left of the door is the start of a spiral staircase, although you'd have to squeeze between a narrow gap in furniture to reach it.
She seats herself behind a cluttered desk, pulling back her hood as she does; Master Leona is an elderly woman, her forehead branded with the same mark as her wrists, and rather unfortunately afflicted with cataracts for someone who apparently spends as much time with written material as she seems to.
"There's not much else I can tell you about where to go or what to look for, since all my information is thirdhand at this point. I'm relying on you all to discover what I can't devote diviners to. To that end, and because even I'm not sure what you might end up doing or needing, I'm willing to let you take another of the initiates with you if you choose. I can also answer any questions you have, although there's not much for me to say about your task in particular."