NOVEL WEB Taylor hates winter
10 Marpenoth
These holidays are ridiculous, and some of them have truly forced me to question the sanity of the assorted leaders of the city. This “Reign of Misrule” is barely controlled anarchy, that is even state endorsed!
The other children who went to their lessons essentially took over the various learning rooms at the temple, tying up the poor priest assigned to us that day in a chair as they wrote nonsense on the blackboard, playing some variation of hangman or other wastes of time.
And by the late afternoon, when classes would be over, many of the others took to the streets to spread further mischief. I know Pelsot joined a small gang going about and pelting various buildings with baskets of days old eggs, spoiled tomatoes, and balls of mud. I even saw them competing to strike bird nests in the nooks of buildings, though thankfully Pelsot seemed reluctant about the topic and avoided joining in.
I just went home with Jespa instead. We spent some time on knitting a few stuffed toys for the other kids, since a few had birthdays coming up and gift giving is customary here. The activity has been somewhat novel to me whenever I do it with Jespa or Virla, because I’m more used to the weaving of clothes. I haven’t really managed to put together enough of a collection of spiders to do much yet on that front. It would be hard to explain to the rest of the family, and the prospect of weaving clothes for myself that I’m likely to outgrow soon anyway doesn’t sound very productive.
15 Marpenoth
I think I hate temples now, at least most of them. I’ve only found two I’ve felt at ease in.
The Font of Knowledge is mostly just a combination of a large library and school. While the latter doesn’t significantly appeal to me, the availability of a quiet corner to read in is appealing, and my sporadic encounters with Orsik are pleasantly enlightening on topics I might otherwise have difficulty learning about.
Today, I found a second place.
“Gods’ Day” is a celebration for some massive event a century ago in which a number of deities died. What details I could get are messy, but it’s one of the biggest shake ups for the various pantheons in recent history. The Time of Troubles as a title is probably a bit of an understatement, with the fact that the various gods were forced onto the Material Plane in physical and vulnerable form. Perhaps the greatest deaths were for the so called “Dead Three”, former adventurers raised to godhood after meeting with the “original” god of death, Jergal.
The three were far more actively malicious and evil than Jergal. Bane, god of strife, tyranny, and fear. Patron to dictators and abusers. Bhaal, god of murder and assassination. His death was somewhat overstated, having spread his essence as a precautionary measure resulting in a number of high profile serial killers popping up across the realm. Myrkul, god of the dead, necromancy, and decay. He apparently was only left mostly dead, some small spark of his essence having escaped being usurped by Cyric, the one to be behind the slaying of the Dead Three.
That isn’t too relevant now though. Virla took us on a loop around the city to visit a number of the various temples. I wish I was able to enjoy the architecture of them more, because many were truly breathtaking. Were they constructed with magic? Some fascinating building techniques? I didn’t exactly spend much time sightseeing on Bet, but I feel like I never really saw much that was on the same level, and there were at least a dozen of them here.
Yet somehow, I couldn’t help but sense a feeling of wrongness in them. Not quite like before with the druids, but perhaps worse in some ways. The feeling of eyes on me seemed almost supernatural, like the temples themselves were watching me rather than just the people within. The priests were fairly friendly at each temple, or as enthused to see my family as any other. Various advertising speeches talking about what each of them would contribute, and the sorts of blessings they provided. It reminded me of those TV church broadcasts.
All except for the Hospice of Saint Lauspenn.
I’m not sure why that was. It reminded me of a hospital. Not in a design sense, there weren't those muted neutral colours everywhere, and it seemed more open in design than any temple I was in before, but at the same time it felt far more interested in the health of those within than the other temples. A place for recovery.
A place of mercy, as Ilmater intended.
Considered one of the kindest gods, happy to take up the burdens of others, the burdens of everyone, were it possible.
Did the other temples somehow sense what I was, and were wary of me? Was Ilmater accepting me as opposed to judging me like the others? The more objective possibility was that it simply lacked the same sort of warding against magic that the others would, to accept more people into it. Wards that somehow interfered with my powers to make me feel uneasy.
26 Marpenoth
The first snowfall of the year happened today, and apparently this is fairly typical for when it starts.
Why is it snowing in October?
Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of shovelling to be done for us, because it wasn’t exactly a heavy snowfall, only a couple inches. The city was quite organized in the clearing for it, thanks to the combined efforts of the Dungsweepers’ Guild and the Fellowship of Carters and Coachmen. While areas directly in front of houses were typically the resident’s responsibilities, members of the two guilds would go around to collect and move the larger piles for disposal. Either clerics would make large hills disappear, wizards melt it with fire, or it would just be dumped into the harbour (which was mostly what happened for us given our proximity).
The snowfall also meant that future visits to the Rat Hills weren’t likely to be a possibility for the near future. The road south tended to rarely be cleared, meaning that during the winter it would be large amounts of snow making trudging the distance impossible for my small body, then it would be full of mud and puddles to render it similarly impassable.
The other kids revelled in the fresh snowfall, however. The creation of snow men was an early activity, and a small competition for who could make the tallest among the kids. Afterwards was some variant of tag, using the snow as natural markers for acceptable pathways. A rough ten minute period of kids all dragging their feet through the snowfall to make a maze of pathways, then using them to limit the space those who were not tagged to move, while the ones tagged would be able to move between them.
We played well into the afternoon, until a nearby appearance of lizardfolk spoiled the fun for most of us. The others seemed mildly panicked by their presence, but to me they just seemed pitiful. Bundled up in patchworks of ill-fitting jackets that seemed more a mockery of the idea of winter jackets than truly insulating, with their feet and tails exposed to the snow, dragging through them. They just seemed like they were freezing and wanted a warm building to stay in more than anything.
Still, many of the kids were cautioned by their parents to avoid them on sight, and so many decided to go home afterwards. Pelsot was one of them, dragging me and Jespa along. We warmed ourselves by the fireplace while we waited for our parents to come home.
Today was… fun, despite the setbacks.