Lakeside Story 1: A Game-Changer
General Summary
Month 4, Week 3, Year 928
Auntie Kotta had been waiting months for the spring rains, smiling as the water pooled in the floor of her mud hut. Curious chingwa stood in the outside, watching her chop up ingredients for the ritual. Herbs from the remotest parts of the Koulan Forests, behir scales, gold dust from a Dragon God-King's sarcophagus, steam filled the hut as the magic concoction started to take shape. As she added the added the ingredients to the cauldron, Kotta felt another presence join the chingwa at the doorway. The stench of her catoblepas, the acrid metallic taste in the air, a feeling that anything was possible for the right price. Auntie Jadoogar had arrived. "You were always the first to arrive," Kotta remarked, not looking up from her cauldron. The mixture was starting to glow alternating shades of red, blue, green and yellow. A cackling from the doorway. "I never pass on the opportunity to sow a bit of chaos. After all, it's been centuries since we last met up like this. How have the Territories been?" "Dull," Kotta sneered, tossing a thri-kreen antenna into the mixture. "They've put down their weapons and outsourced their heroes. Now the adventurers have left and the blonde one has made this place as boring as possible so she can spend all her time staring at the stars." "It's certainly time for a change," Jadoogar nodded, absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards that had materialized in her hands. "What do we have in mind to shake things up? Are we summoning pathfinders? Will we follow some rogues and their blades in the dark? I've been feeling quite energized this century, no change is too challenging for me." "Icon," Kotta replied, pouring the last ingredients into the cauldron. The elemental essences sizzled and steamed, turning the hag's simple hut into a sauna. Jadoogar smiled. "I believe I've heard tell of that one and it's world, it's certainly different enough from how things have been run here. Isn't it incomplete though? Even too much chaos can ruin a good time." "It will work well enough for our purposes." Kotta said as she stirred the cauldron, each movement engulfing the room in more smoke and steam. Once she could feel the mixture hardening, she took a step back and stared at Jadoogar for the first time since arrival. "We now wait for a third." "You might not have to wait long," Jadoogar replied, pointing outside towards the edge of the clearing. Trees trembled and swayed, some crashing down to earth as something large tunneled underneath. The two hags watched as a horde of worms and insects burst from the undergrowth, a dozen chingwa leaping out of the way at the last minute. The swarm dispersed in a million directions, leaving an old woman standing in the clearing dressed in a simple robe and hood like a Hakonian druid. "Aunite Lindworm," Jadoogar said, embracing the third and final addition to their coven. "Color me surprised to see you on this side of the fish." "A change is good for all of us, dearest," Lindworm smiled, giving a polite nod to Kotta. "I tried to have some fun in Eldermere, but the rules of the world did little to help with my games. I'm quite excited to see how these rules will affect the mortals, they've been used to the old ways for so long it'll be fun to see them suffer in new ways." "The coven has been assembled," Kotta interjected, beckoning towards the cauldron that was now glowing a violent molten red. The smoke and steam had started pouring out of the hut, engulfing the clearing in a dense fog. Lindworm and Jadoogar chatted for a couple more minutes as they got in place for the ritual, asking about the weather and their favorite primordial entities. Once the three of them stood in a circle around the cauldron, the words to the ritual fell from their lips with a graceful ease. The weird magic, amplified by the power of three, flowed like a broken dam and washed over the coven. Only the bravest chingwa peeked into the hut to watch the ritual take its course, the cauldron levitating off the floor as the hags glowed with vibrant flashes of reds and blues and greens and yellows. The cauldron continued rising, piercing the thatched roof of the hut and floating higher and higher into the air. Once it disappeared behind the nearest raincloud, the entire sky flashed with a brilliant burst of energy, visible from as far away as Sanjuro City as the mixture took its hold. The rain turned oily, each drop reflecting small rainbow patterns as they fell to the ground. The storms would rage =for several days, moving through much of the Northern Territories and carrying with it the power of this ritual. By the end of the week the region would be operating under an entirely different set of rules than the rest of Pescaliat. The bravest chingwa watched as Auntie Kotta abandoned the coven without a word, flying through the dense forest atop her spindly broomstick. Jadoogar and Lindworm stayed behind to enjoy the weather, discussing places they should revisit in the Territories since neither had been since before the Ostry Apocalypse. "We should really do this more often," Jadoogar said, a giant smile etched across her wrinkly face. "I haven't felt this young in centuries."
Auntie Kotta had been waiting months for the spring rains, smiling as the water pooled in the floor of her mud hut. Curious chingwa stood in the outside, watching her chop up ingredients for the ritual. Herbs from the remotest parts of the Koulan Forests, behir scales, gold dust from a Dragon God-King's sarcophagus, steam filled the hut as the magic concoction started to take shape. As she added the added the ingredients to the cauldron, Kotta felt another presence join the chingwa at the doorway. The stench of her catoblepas, the acrid metallic taste in the air, a feeling that anything was possible for the right price. Auntie Jadoogar had arrived. "You were always the first to arrive," Kotta remarked, not looking up from her cauldron. The mixture was starting to glow alternating shades of red, blue, green and yellow. A cackling from the doorway. "I never pass on the opportunity to sow a bit of chaos. After all, it's been centuries since we last met up like this. How have the Territories been?" "Dull," Kotta sneered, tossing a thri-kreen antenna into the mixture. "They've put down their weapons and outsourced their heroes. Now the adventurers have left and the blonde one has made this place as boring as possible so she can spend all her time staring at the stars." "It's certainly time for a change," Jadoogar nodded, absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards that had materialized in her hands. "What do we have in mind to shake things up? Are we summoning pathfinders? Will we follow some rogues and their blades in the dark? I've been feeling quite energized this century, no change is too challenging for me." "Icon," Kotta replied, pouring the last ingredients into the cauldron. The elemental essences sizzled and steamed, turning the hag's simple hut into a sauna. Jadoogar smiled. "I believe I've heard tell of that one and it's world, it's certainly different enough from how things have been run here. Isn't it incomplete though? Even too much chaos can ruin a good time." "It will work well enough for our purposes." Kotta said as she stirred the cauldron, each movement engulfing the room in more smoke and steam. Once she could feel the mixture hardening, she took a step back and stared at Jadoogar for the first time since arrival. "We now wait for a third." "You might not have to wait long," Jadoogar replied, pointing outside towards the edge of the clearing. Trees trembled and swayed, some crashing down to earth as something large tunneled underneath. The two hags watched as a horde of worms and insects burst from the undergrowth, a dozen chingwa leaping out of the way at the last minute. The swarm dispersed in a million directions, leaving an old woman standing in the clearing dressed in a simple robe and hood like a Hakonian druid. "Aunite Lindworm," Jadoogar said, embracing the third and final addition to their coven. "Color me surprised to see you on this side of the fish." "A change is good for all of us, dearest," Lindworm smiled, giving a polite nod to Kotta. "I tried to have some fun in Eldermere, but the rules of the world did little to help with my games. I'm quite excited to see how these rules will affect the mortals, they've been used to the old ways for so long it'll be fun to see them suffer in new ways." "The coven has been assembled," Kotta interjected, beckoning towards the cauldron that was now glowing a violent molten red. The smoke and steam had started pouring out of the hut, engulfing the clearing in a dense fog. Lindworm and Jadoogar chatted for a couple more minutes as they got in place for the ritual, asking about the weather and their favorite primordial entities. Once the three of them stood in a circle around the cauldron, the words to the ritual fell from their lips with a graceful ease. The weird magic, amplified by the power of three, flowed like a broken dam and washed over the coven. Only the bravest chingwa peeked into the hut to watch the ritual take its course, the cauldron levitating off the floor as the hags glowed with vibrant flashes of reds and blues and greens and yellows. The cauldron continued rising, piercing the thatched roof of the hut and floating higher and higher into the air. Once it disappeared behind the nearest raincloud, the entire sky flashed with a brilliant burst of energy, visible from as far away as Sanjuro City as the mixture took its hold. The rain turned oily, each drop reflecting small rainbow patterns as they fell to the ground. The storms would rage =for several days, moving through much of the Northern Territories and carrying with it the power of this ritual. By the end of the week the region would be operating under an entirely different set of rules than the rest of Pescaliat. The bravest chingwa watched as Auntie Kotta abandoned the coven without a word, flying through the dense forest atop her spindly broomstick. Jadoogar and Lindworm stayed behind to enjoy the weather, discussing places they should revisit in the Territories since neither had been since before the Ostry Apocalypse. "We should really do this more often," Jadoogar said, a giant smile etched across her wrinkly face. "I haven't felt this young in centuries."
Report Date
19 May 2023
Primary Location
Featured Characters
- Auntie Kotta
- Auntie Jadoogar
- Auntie Lindworm
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