#candbrp

[bishop-percival]

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(prev) Shamura listens and takes this in, giving a soft hum and sips their own tea. “I obviously don’t know this Glorn or much about him, but to me the prospect would seem almost offensive?” they admit.

Mike shook his head. “Mm… No.” 

He swirled the remaining tea in his cup as he explained, “The prospect of a mortal attaining enough power to ascend is certainly offensive and concerning to the righteous, benevolent side of the divine world. But the malevolent usually welcomes the practice with open arms.”

[stuckinuniformdevelopment]

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(Previous) Shamura nods and leans over to start the machine up. "There! Anything else?" They hum. "Or next I put the whites in the other one?"

It took a second for Theodore to realize what they meant by "the other one." Once he did he shook his head as he glanced over it.

"That's all. The process is the same for the whites aside from turning the washing machine dial to the red mark."

[gloria-in-infimus-deo]

(Previous)

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Shamura looks around the sudden change in scenery with fascination, they really couldn't tell where this was magic or the strange technology that the watchdogs had, maybe even a mix of both. They look out in eager fascination at the garden but their attention is quickly caught by Gloria addressing them. Shamura nods dutifully and got to work spreading the towels, being careful and neat in their arrangement, making sure they covered the surface completely.

@bishop-percival

Upon entering the foyer, a small wave of calmness washed over Miriam. While she never liked to go out of her way to ask if she could visit, Miriam loved any chance she could get to be invited into Gloria’s cushy planet and house. To Miriam, she somehow felt more at home during these sparse visits than she ever did during eight years of living in the Glornch. She followed the group into the spare bedroom. She nodded at Gloria’s instruction and waited until the bed was covered with towels before placing Lola down. The priestess leaned close to her face and whispered the same string of strange before flicking her forehead. “Oww…” Lola groggily muttered as she stirred awake. “Uurhg… Where am I? What is this beautiful room? Ah man, did they send me to The Heavens instead of The Hells? Was I not evil enough?"

Once they had spread out the towels Gloria gave Shamura an affectionate pat on the head. "What a helpful youngster," she said as she pulled a palm-sized bundle out of her pocket and placed it in their hands.

"Here, take this as a reward." Then she paused to rest her hand on her cheek and sigh. "...And your much needed snack. It's a shame this commotion delayed your dinner."

While Revenard Miriam woke Lola up Gloria double checked that the door was shut and curtains were closed. Surely this Glornist would be especially whiny if she found out that she had a mansion large enough to comfortably fit all of them.

If Lola found out, so would everyone else. Annnnd that would jeopardize her ability to leave whenever the Glornists became too troublesome to deal with.

When Lola woke up Gloria giggle. "How sweet of you! But no, this is but my humble bedroom." She let out a lightheaded scoff. "As if Revenard Miriam would carry you to The Heavens."

Then she sat down in the chair next to bed and offered Lola an orange cookie from the platter on the bedside table. It was pumpkin shaped with a piece of chocolate serving as a steam, with a big friendly smile stretched across it.

"How are you feeling, dearie?" Gloria leaned in to rest her hand on Lola's forehead. "That mushroom was forbidden for a reason."

As she gave Lola the friendly grandmother routine she used her feet to pull a garden bucket out from under the bed and nudged it to Miriam.

[bishop-percival]

Reverend Miriam and her brother Reverend Mike were traveling for a Glornist mission. Mike had been concerned about his sister lately. Leaving the Glornch, let alone leaving the Skullship, had become an increasingly rare occurrence for her. So not wanting her to settle into a hermit lifestyle, Mike brought the matter up with Bishop Percival under the guise that Reverend Miriam was slacking in her duties as priestess to spread the will of Glorn. And much to her dismay, Bishop Pervical agreed and ordered her to serve a mission.

But these two bozos weren’t going to force her out of the Glornch without a deal. Her conditions were that she got to choose which planet to go to, it would be no longer than a couple of days, and she could bring someone with her. Naturally, that someone was the bastard who dared whine about her inactivity; her brother. Mike was reluctant to go mainly because he felt very uneasy about leaving the Glornch in the hands of that violently impulsive, devil-may-care bishop with no priests to keep him in check. He prayed to Glorn the deacons would keep things running smoothly, though he had a feeling that prayer would go unanswered. 

The planet of choice was also an easy decision. For over a year now, every time Miriam tossed a live creature into her potion brews, the mortified face of a certain spiderling always resurfaced to haunt her memory. Indeed, Shamura, the sweet young student they had aboard a while ago, was always in the back of Miriam’s mind, along with their impassioned talks of their home planet and monastery. So why not pay them a visit? Besides, Mike had already been there briefly before to pick them up, so that was a bonus. He liked the idea of visiting as well. The two agreed to maybe lay off the “sow chaos and destruction and pillage holy sites” aspects of Glornist missions a little bit.

And so, there the priests were, speeding toward Locdeom. Once closer to the surface, Mike navigated toward the monastery where he’d picked Shamura up from previously, since that was the only location he was familiar with. However, as they approached the site, they saw that it was wildly different than what he’d seen over a year earlier. The monastery had been reduced to crumbling, ancient-looking ruins, was fenced off, and guarded by armed hooded figures.

Miriam eyed the site apprehensively. “... Are you lost or something? This isn’t the place, is it?”

Mike was in disbelief, cautiously flying the saucer closer. “I-it has to be, but…” He shook his head. “I think we should investigate, but first we should come up with a plan to deal with those guards. Let’s fall back, hide, then lure one of them to us to steal—...”

Miriam wasn’t paying much attention. She saw that the guards had already spotted the foreign object in the sky hovering above them so they were probably on high alert. She didn’t want to wait to enact some convoluted plan. She had a more direct approach in mind. 

Much to Mike’s bewilderment, Miriam pushed the button to open the saucer’s dome, leaned out a little bit and shouted, “HEY! Do you guys know where a little kid named Shamura might be? Spiderling, purple?” She didn’t entirely expect the guards to understand her, but was curious to see their reaction nonetheless.

“W-what are you doing!?” Mike said as he fruitlessly tried to yank Miriam back in. He seemed to have forgotten that despite her reclusive tendencies, his sister was not at all shy.

@candbrp

[bishop-percival]

@candbrp

(prev) Indeed it was! It was a smaller group of three cultists, one leading and two behind, carrying between them a captive deer, crying but otherwise resigned to their fate. The cultists wore a similar uniform to those of Shamura’s cultists, but where theirs were dark gray with lighter gray accents, the Darkwood cultists outfits were a dark grayish brown with golden accents and a pentagram clasp holding their robes together.

Miriam delighted at the sight of the crying soon-to-be sacrifice. After observing the other cultists, she wondered if they were informed about her and Mike being guests of Bishop Shamura. If not, how would these guys react to the sight of a strange eyeball creature? To be safe, Miriam stood close to Kimaris to make it clear she was with this group. 

[bishop-percival]

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(prev) Kimaris nods and takes a deep breath as she lets it all wash over her, the cracked surface of stones, the lichen cascading over the area, the soft rustle of the trees, the smell of the earth and plantlife, but also the iron of blood and smell of decay. As they did the group hears something approaching from the other side of the ravine.

Miriam perked up when she sensed something approaching. She hoped it was the other cultists with the sacrifice. She walked toward the ritual site to see if she could spot them.

[bishop-percival]

@candbrp

(prev) When they had finished up, the other cultists loading the herbs carefully into collection, they returned their rank and file line and continued on into Darkwood, eventually arriving at a large ravine, one that might’ve been natural once but was likely expanded at some point for use as a ritual space, though vegetation had once again overtaken the surfaces. Torches are hung around the area and at its centre a large stone slab sitting on a slightly raised stone platform, a ritual circle of blood has been drawn around it, inscribed with runes and surrounded by candles and small shrine stones. “We got here first,” Kimaris remarks, “but they shouldn’t be too long,” For once one of the other cultists speaks. “With Darkwood cultists you can never be sure, they’re not exactly fond of plans,” they point out, their voice somewhat deep.

Miriam took great interest in the ritual circle, observing the runes around it. She then eyed the cultist who spoke, rather curious about how the cultists of the different bishops viewed each other. But instead of inquiring further, Miriam had something else on her mind and turned toward Kimaris. 

“Maybe in the meantime I could teach you how to draw the sigil of Mother’s Eye.” She then began glancing around for a suitable place for it.

[bishop-percival]

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(prev) Kamaris grins at the idea. “Oh yeah? To anywhere in particular? I’d assume it was a summoning portal based on the context?” She suggests.

Miriam nodded. “Yeah, summoning portals mostly, but sometimes with the help of my bishop we open portals to different nightmare dimensions. It opens up a myriad of rare ingredients to collect for my witchcraft.”

She idly kicked a pebble on the ground. “They’re also nice to shove unruly deacons into for a few days.”