Session Report 12: Temple of Morwha

General Summary

Our party awoke after the first day on the road in their makeshift camp. It had been a trying evening, one where they party had enraged an oasis spirit after defiling its crystal clear spring. It was early when they broke camp, the sun just beginning to rise over the desert dunes and the twin moons of Masser and Secunda still high in the sky. While Cleetus was making breakfast for the party, Havem would notice a large storm brewing to the north east along the coast. A high pressure system was on the way, and Havem predicted that they might catch get caught in the storm if they didn’t move quicky.
The Party broke down the camp at haste, however the storm was quickl y upon them. Pitch black clouds obscured the sun for much of the day, yet no rain fell on the parched environment. Lightning strikes arced across the sky, and the party found themselves moving much slower through the storm due to their inability to keep their camels in check and on the path. The party would struggle through the storm for hours, culminating in a freak accident that saw Jonus and Peeeeen-Ja both being struck by the same bolt of lightning, frying their camels instantly.
The party would not get a respite from the storm until the evening, where they would make camp alongside the road once more.
The next few days would go by uneventfully, and it wasn’t until they were a days journey from Morose that they came upon something on the road. A cart was overturned on the road while a very pregnant Redguard woman was tending to an injured man beside it and a Bosmer man was firing arrows off into the overgrowth. As the party approached, they realized that whatever attacked the people on the road was still around as Steve got close to the woman, an arrow sailed through the sky and impaled itself into the left eye of the Bosmer on the road.
A melee would ensue between the party and a group of Ostrich riding Reikr who had set an elaborate ambush on the road, using the overturned cart as bait for bigger prey. As the fight appeared to be turning in the favour of the party, the Ostrich Cavalry would flee down the road and out of sight.
The woman was a Redguard by the name of Nami and her husband who laid injured on the ground was named Johjin. They had been travelling from Sentinel to visit the Temple of Morwha, an ancient structure dedicated to the Yokudan goddess of Fertility, Morwha. They had hoped to receive Morwhas blessings in its spring so as to bless her child with strength and good fortune and for Nami to have a safe labour.
The party decided to assist her and take her to the Temple as it was along the way to Morose. The spring in the temple was said to be blessed by the Teat Mother herself and so it could help to heal Johjin’s wounds.
As the party approached the temple it became clear the Reikr had set up an encampment within the temple. Large ballistae were mounted on top of large cliffs that framed the entry point to the temple. Sensing an opportunity to negotiate with the Reikr, Steve stepped forward with a small team of Jonus, Peeeeen-Ja and Cleetus. Approaching the defensive encampment, Steve began to attempt to communicate with the Reikr with great difficulty. He managed to almost secure an audience with Chief Limpfoot of the Reikr however Havem attempted to sneak up on the Reikr from the west and alerted them to his presence sparking a cry of betrayal and a temporary end to negotiations in favour of combat.
After a wild combat that included the introduction of the Riekrs friend, Brucie the Ogre, the party found themselves surrounded by the bodies of countless reikr with the Reikr retreating deep into the temple. Steve, having enough of the senseless violence, decided he would sit at the entrance of the shrine, unarmed, hoping to convince the chief to come and negotiate. The countless deaths of Reikr and the violence from the party was enough to persuade the Reikr Chief to emerge from the inner chambers of the temple to speak with Steve.
The Chief himself spoke very broken Tamrielic. His name was Chief Limpfoot and he was the protector and guardian of the Reikr Clan. Chief Limpfoot told Steve that they would be willing to let the party go on their way so long as they paid in gold and camels. Steve was able to deftly convince the Chief that instead of camels, they could take the elephant meat that Havem had acquired early in the week. Accepting this trade, Chief Limpfoot allowed the party and the young redgaurd couple to access the healing waters of the Spring in the centre of the temple. Happy with the exchange, the party left the temple and offered to take Nami and Johjin to Morose, where they had family waiting for them.
A few hours outside of Morose, the party came upon a body lying in the middle of the road. It was a Redguard man, dressed in a very basic, completely white robe. His arms had what appeared to be rope tied to each side, and his chest was inflicted with a grave stab wound, with blood staining the front. After an initial poke of the body, Aethrondil would discover that while he looked dead, he wasn’t quite there yet. Casting a healing spell on him, the body would lurch awake and let out a blood curdling scream. The man entered into a manic episode, bursts of giggling and sobs interspersed with mutterings in Yoku alluding to the Great Revolution and the wrath of the almighty. Demanding answers from the man on who they were referring to, he got out a single name “Mehrunes Dagon” before snatching the dagger off of Aethrondil’s belt and slitting his own throat.
After this ominous encounter, the party debated bringing the body back to Morose, however it was decided that they best leave it here in case the person who wounded him was in the village. On arriving in the village, it was getting to be fairly late at night and there was not a single person on the streets. Leading them through town, Nami let the party know that she could put up 4 members of the group in her home, while the rest could speak with the Stablemaster Rory for a straw bed. Nami was also quizzed on her knowledge of a ruin outside of town by Aethrondil as he was given a mission to retrieve a book called the Prayer of Fourfold Wrath in said ruin. Nami mentioned that a local priest named Father Ajax had undertaken an expedition in this area sometime ago, however she had not been in town for a long while so did not know the current status of that expedition.
As the party was settling down for bed, Theodane would notice that Rory wore a very intricate medallion, made of fine silver and carved with 4 arms creating an X and the symbols of earth, fire, water, and air in between each space. Another thing they noticed was the sheer lack of life in the village, with no birds or rats or even insects anywhere to be seen.
Settling in for the evening, the group sleeping in the stables were unaware that while they slept, they had been taken from the stable to a location unknown to them. They were bound, gagged and lying on a dark and dusty floor, separated from the rest of the party. To be continued….

Report Date

20 Jul 2022