Shiny Happy People

Heimlin goes up to the heavy oak doors of the temple and, standing on tip toe, takes hold of the large heart shaped knocker and raps on the door. Half a minute later the door is answered by a handsome young man with long curly locks. He is wearing long saffron colored robes and has a gentle smile on his face and a distant look in his eyes.

'Welcome, strangers, he says' warmly 'what business have you with the Temple of Laska?'

'We wuz wonderin' whether you could put up eight of us for the night, if it ain't too much trouble.' says Heimlin.

'That would be no problem at all' says the acolyte, seemingly genuine. 'It is always our privilege to honor guests at our temple. By offering you the warmth of our hospitality, we are being true to the wondrous cause of Laska. Please follow me.'

Heimlin beckons to the others to follow him in. They notice a sly grin and a wink as he starts to follow the acolyte. It is obvious to them all that this is not the first time that he has taken advantage of Laska's hospitality.

As he walks with the acolyte, Heimlin speaks with him.

'So what's yer name then, mate, if it ain't a rude question.'

'My born name is Pavel' replies the acolyte 'But I am known in the Temple by the name I was given by Laska - Moondance'

'Well...errm...Moondance' Heimlin replies, slightly embarrassed 'I was wonderin'. You lot wouldn't 'ave a spare cart or an 'orse that you wanted to get rid of would yers? I'd give you a good price for it.'

'I'm sorry my friend' says Moondance, but we are a very humble Temple. Whatever we receive we give to those more needy than ourselves in order to spread the good word of Laska. We therefore, do not possess such items.'

'Never mind' replies Heimlin, a little disappointed 'Was worth a try though.'

Moondance leads them all through the courtyard into the main temple. The place is full of beaming beautiful people all wearing saffron robes.

'I would like to introduce you all to Sister Sunbeam' says Moondance.

'Greetings to you all' says Sister Sunbeam, another beautiful smiling woman in her early thirties.

Heimlin asks her whether they would have lodging for eight people and she replies that it would be no problem at all.

'Orright then folks' says Heimlin 'I reckons we should all get off to sleep early so we can make an early start at dawn so as to get a good day's travel in.

Sister Sunbeam overhears.

'I'm sure that a little supper would be in order before you go to bed' she says.

They all reply that this would be a good idea. Within an hour a good meal is on the table and they sit down to eat with the clerics of the Temple of Laska. Throughout the meal, all the clerics talk about are the wonders of Laska and how happy they are to have found her love. The party is quite relieved when the meal is over and they can go to your quarters. They depart to their rooms which are simply furnished but clean. After the fraught day, they sleep soundly.

 

3 SEPTEMBER 3460

The visitors are woken by the sound of chanting some time just after dawn. Looking out of the window, they are all disappointed to see that the bright sunshine of yesterday has been replaced by a steady drizzle. Walking in this weather is not going to be much fun.

They come out of their rooms to find a hearty breakfast prepared for them all. Thinking that this could be the last decent meal they will eat for a while, they all eat heartily.

Heimlin speaks:

'We needs to work out what sort of route we'd be takin' to me 'ome. Forget goin' there by boat, coz we'd ave to pass through Mnyesto again if we did, an' I 'eard most of yers sayin' that yer didn't like boats, so we're gonna 'ave to walk. I see that we got three options. We can either go by the main road, which will be the quickest, but means that we're gonna be meetin' a lot o' travelers, many of who could be trouble. The other option is to go completely cross-country. This is the slowest, but means that we ain't gonna meet many people. Those that we do meet, however, are gonna be suspicious, as it ain't a normal way of travellin'. The third option is that we keep to the tracks that link the villages. It's an 'alf way 'ouse. It's gonna be a lot faster than goin' cross country, but we're gonna meet some folks, but it won't look too strange if we do. That's one thing to decide. Then what do we do when we comes across towns an' villages? Most little villages don't 'ave Nyemetz garrisons. Instead they 'ave roving patrols to enforce their will. Also, 'ow are we gonna be travellin'? What do we do when we sees folks? I think that we needs to decide on all these things before we starts off.'

"Heimlin... be there anythin near yer homelands that people might be makin a pilgrimage to? Tha way we could be simple travellin folk out ta see the countryside whilst makin our pilgrimage."

'Now that ain't a bad idea at all, Maire' replies Heimlin. 'The former capital of Moravia was Olmutz, an' it became the religious city for the 'ole area at that time. As a result, there are temples dedicated to every god there, an' a lot o' them 'ave a lot of religious artifacts, as the city is a very old one, older than Mnyesto prob'ly. Bohavians used to make a lot o' pilgrimages to Olmutz, but not so more now. But if we was to be very devout, then it wouldn't be such a strange thing for folks to do. It will work as an excuse for the first three fourths of our journey, while we's travellin' west. We'll 'ave to think of another excuse for the last part, while we's travellin' north. 'As anyone else got any better ideas?'

"Thank ye for yer kind words Heimlin... how many people do ye think we would be meetin' while headin north?"

'It's 'ard to say really, lass.' replies Heimlin. 'There certainly ain't as many people goin' North as there will be goin' East. The Nyemetz ain't nearly as strong up in the hills an' slopes. In any case, it's only a journey o' less than 40 miles when we gets to that point. I reckons that we'll 'ave less trouble from Nyemetz there than we will from bandits and Polak slavers. An' they won't stop to attack us jus' cuz we's dressed as pilgrims. Anyways, it's gonna take us quite a while to get to that point, so we'll 'ave us plenty of time to come up wiv a new plan before then.'

"Well now... if this be truly what we be doin then... how does a pilgrim dress? I never seen one a'fore and while we still be havin tha hospitality of tha temple ere, we should be settin' up our disguises nay?"

"And while we be at it, mayhap we needs to be lettin tha Laskans know that we do be on a pilgrimage in case they ever be questioned by tha Nyemetz.

'I guess that pilgrims are normal folks in the main' replies Heimlin 'I've 'eard that some of the more extreme ones go dressed in sack cloths an' beatin' 'emselves with whips an' flails, but I don't fancy keepin' that up for a week! I thinks that we should all keep our religious symbols in our 'ands an' be chantin' an' prayin' whenever we gets within earshot of anyone.'

'As for tellin' our tale to the Laskans, then I don't reckon it's a bad thing to be doin', although the Nyemetz never come to this place. The Laskan's beliefs are the opposite of the Nyemetz, so the Nyemetz don't want nothin' to do with 'em. The Laskans are totally opposed to fightin', so the Nyemetz knows that they ain't gonna be no trouble to 'em.'

Maire' shrugs a bit and then a perplexed look crosses her face.

"Heimlin.... ye said that all kinds of gods be worshiped... could ye be helpin me out a bit...I...I don't have a faith of me own...." Maire' finally admits, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Be...be thar a god of magic?"

'Ya don't have a god!!??' exclaims Heimlin, somewhat shocked. 'So oo's gonna protect you when things get really desperate? I'd long be a gonna if I didn't put my faith in Luster. Many a time has he answered my prayers. Anyway, yes there is a goddess of magic, Kozlo is her name. But it ain't no good idea proclaimin' that yer's a follower of Kozlo these days. The Nyemetz takes a keen interest in any of 'er subjects. They'd prob'ly burn you at the stake jus' to be on the safe side. If yer wants to pick a god to pretend to worship, then I'd pick Kitry. She's the goddess of books and learnin' and knowledge an' stuff an' a good friend of Kozlo up in the 'eavens. The Nyemetz ain't gonna bother wiv a follower of Kitry cuz them bookworms ain't likely to cause no trouble.'

Luckily the Laskans have not been listening to the party's conversation about what excuse to use while traveling to Dvur Kralovye, as they have all been chanting while they eat their breakfast. As they are finishing the meal, the chanting finishes and the clerics of Laska come to join them.

Heimlin gets talking to the clerics and tells them that the reason why they are all departing Mnyesto is to undertake a pilgrimage to Olmutz. The clerics are very impressed at that, and many of them say that they wish that they were coming with them, but that their duties at the Temple keep them from accompanying the party. They say that sometimes members of their order make the pilgrimage to Olmutz, but usually when they are in the twilight years of their life.

The Laskan sect never allows any of its members to carry any form of weaponry or wear anything but the simple saffron robes of the Temple. For their safety, they trust in the divine intervention of Laska herself. The party believes that Laskans are known for their vows of poverty throughout Bohavia and so they would probably be safe from most of the bandits roaming the country, as they would all know that an attack on a group of Laskan pilgrims would not bring them any gain.

Heimlin mentions that some of the group were interested in becoming members of the Laskan Temple. At this news, Sister Sunbeam gets very excited and starts extolling the virtues of the sect once again at great lengths. During this diatribe, they all learn that all acolytes must not leave the Temple for a period of six months.

The party realizes that Heimlin is simply trying to blag a few sets of robes and holy symbols out of them, but Sister Sunbeam is quite firm about the fact that it won't be possible to simply just part with the robes and precious holy symbols immediately, but only after the lengthy initiation period. Heimlin realizes that he is fighting a losing battle and so gives up on this idea. He tells the Laskans that those in the party interested in joining the Temple of Laska will return there after the pilgrimage is over.

They can tell that Sister Sunbeam is somewhat disappointed at not being able to obtain any new acolytes from the group, but doesn't take it to heart.

'Orright, then I guess that we should be goin' says Heimlin 'Sister Sunbeam, on behalf of all of us, I would jus' like to thank you and all the rest of yers for yer very kind 'ospitality. As a token of our appreciation, I would like to offer you a small donation.'

With this, he opens up his big leather pouch and pulls out around 50gp and hands it to the Sister. She is very appreciative of the donation, which goes some way to making up for the fact that she was unable to gain any new acolytes from the party.

Moondance leads the party through the courtyard and waves them goodbye.

The rain hits the members of the party as soon as they leave the Temple. The sky is gray and they can tell that this is more than a passing shower, although it is not too cold. They can all tell that this is not going to be a good start to the journey, but realize that they have no option but to make a start.