[CLOSED] DON'T DUMAT OPEN INSIDE

[katabasis]

WHO: Adrasteia, Laura, Ellis, Tony, Val & Holden
WHAT: Exploration of the Temple of Dumat
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Northern Orlais, Ghislain, ...The Temple of Dumat
NOTES: Mild horror; content warn as necessary; OOC Plot Information; Original Investigation Report

Though the end of winter is hardly the most pleasant time to go trekking through old ruins, returning to the excavated Shrine of Dumat in the heart of the Ghislain region of Orlais is simple enough. Thanks to the collapse of the Venatori-Ander force's hold on the region, they face no opposition and will easily find their way there. While a small contingent of Exalter Marchers has been tasked with keeping tabs on the ruin to make sure no enemy return to it, they've been wary of digging too deep into the sanctum's lowest levels. So congrats: you all get to pick up right where the last group of Riftwatchers left off (or finish what you started in the first place, Tony).

The team has been tasked with two primary objectives:

• Follow up on the first team's work. Explore the ritual chamber of the shrine where the rumored "gate" is located; recover any artifacts or clues therein and retrieve as much data about the rift as possible. If anything isn't safe to bring back to the Gallows (like, say, a certain blighted Venatori mage's corpse), conduct a thorough study and then destroy whatever can't be recovered lest it fall into enemy hands. If you can figure out how to close the gate, then all the better.
  
  
• Thoroughly explore the remainder of the ruin. Verify that there are no ancillary shenanigans on site beyond those found in the ritual chamber. Collect any additional information or traces of Venatori activity on site.

How This Works:
Objective One, which features the exploration of the ritual chamber with its tainted rift and the miscellaneous clues which can be found there are a free-for-all mingle zone. The whole group can interact with that area.

Objective Two, the detailed exploration of the additional chambers, will consist of two branching paths. Look for the header with your character's name in it. These sections will consist of a series of dungeon rooms featuring good old fashioned traps, puzzles, with general exploration hi-jinks encouraged.

Each chamber will be described upon entry and have its own conditions for solving the area and allowing characters to progress through the dungeon, but don't worry if you're not big on puzzles. The ruins have seen better days and what may have once been problems with definitive solutions may now be a little less rigid.

As your characters explore and attempt to solve the puzzles they come across or wander across taps, I will interject here and there with relevant updates. If at any point you get stuck, you can attempt a Perception Check by bolding the relevant section of your tag (i.e. 'She studies the runes on the doors and [blah blah blah insert the rest of the tag here.]') and putting CHECK in the subject line of your comment. I will then roll to see how much information your character manages to glean in order to provide additional hints and clues.

These clues will be oocly visible to everyone, but icly known only to the character who made the check.

If the group as a whole at any point decides they're done playing with puzzles and want the cheat codes for the current room, have the next player put SKELETON KEY in the subject line of their comment and I'll provide you with the solution. I'd much rather we have a satisfying narrative adventure than trap anyone in rooms just because folks aren't feeling a particular puzzle.

If you have any questions, ASK ME HERE.

Comments

<33

[acreage]

"So, of course, people started to worship him."

Who wouldn't want to pray to an evil god of destruction, clearly.

[kantikoy]

"I think he was worshipped before any of those events, actually." Adrasteia gives Holden a rueful sort of smile. "Are there gods forgotten to time where you're from?"

[acreage]

"That depends on who you talk to."

He thinks to Medina Station, formerly the Behemoth, formerly a colony ship for the Mormons. He considers other faiths that made it to space, survived on earth, religious tokens he'd sometimes find with crewmates, holidays they'd celebrate.

"But I wasn't raised religious."

[kantikoy]

"I'm sure there are atheists in Thedas but it's a bit hard to wrap my head around someone choosing to remove themselves from the entire equation." Especially with what one can see in the Fade, for instance. "But your people travel the stars, isn't that right?"

[acreage]

The situation is definitely a lot different in a world with spirits, and with magic, and with the Fade. He's had to shift the way he thinks about things, tackles problems, considers what's possible, so much in the past months.

"That's right. A lot of humanity lives and works in space."

And on other planets, Mars and now beyond with the Ring gates opened.

[kantikoy]

"I have a difficult time imagining what life off the ground must be like, even though there must be something else for people to walk on, hm? Anyway. The point I was trying to make was that it's difficult not to be religious here, when the matters of faith exist in a part of the world you can see and interact with."

She offers Holden a smile.

"If it helps at all, most haven't worshipped Dumat in literal ages."

[acreage]

It's not hard to mirror a smile back at her, saying,

"Well, that's something."

A demon-worshipping cult would be just what Thedas needs, huh — well, another one, anyway. And as to her first statement —

"You have a point. Space travel," relatedly, "is a lot easier to imagine when it's just a reality. Remind me to tell you more about it sometime when we're not in a cursed temple."

[kantikoy]

"I would like that."

To hear about traveling amongst the stars, to hear anything about any other place, really. Good stories can be difficult to come by; she wants to hear his, amongst others.

She reaches up and pats him on the arm.

"Come on. We should take a look around."