Campaign Summary: Tunis

And so they set out! They traveled back to the port and crossed the Middle Sea, arriving in the capital of Tunis at the same time as a Northlander longship which was unloading blonde-haired, blue-eyed slave girls for sale in the markets of Tunis. The dragonriders spoke with the captain, who seemed interested in buying the dragons, and explained that he was bringing the girls to have a new and better life in exotic climates where it was warmer. The ship then ship sailed off.
As it did, a middle-aged woman with the same coloring - a Northlander - accompanied by a powerful warrior dressed in furs ran up to the quay and shouted after the ship, promising vengeance against "Gunther". She revealed her name was Ingrid and that, thirty years before, her twin daughters were taken as children from her by Gunther who sold them into slavery in Tunis. He has been doing this for decades - pillaging rival settlements, killing the menfolk and taking the girls as slaves.
Deciding to not let such injustice pass unanswered, the dragonriders flew off and attacked the ship - but a magical icestorm prevented them! Clearly, Gunther was a warlock of some power. Freezing and humbled, they managed to make it back to the quayside and then went to a tavern to get warm.
Gin decided to go search in the city to see what he could find, and came to a market square where things from all over the world were being sold - including slaves! Deciding to set at least two of them free, he bought two teenage Northlander girls and brought them back to the tavern. They could not speak Sabir, but Ingrid was able to translate for them - they had been taken by Gunther after their village was destroyed.
Gin and Meade wanted them to hide on the boat, where they would be safe, but the boat scared them and Ingrid was angry - weren't they heroes and going to try to stop this evil of slavery? The Dragonriders said they couldn't fight everyone - that killing people wasn't going to help, that this was just the way of the world. Ingrid became angry and stormed off with the girls. Gin & Meade were forlorn and downcast - what should they do?
That night, the Dragonriders had a shared dream - they saw the goddesses of Love and Wisdom playing a game together and talking about them. The goddess of Wisdom said they were more like her sons rather than the goddess of Love's, and the goddess of Love lamented they were acting "like our brother". The Dragonriders woke up with the clear impression their tactics had been wrong . . .
To the temple of Love; it is being run as a brothel! Fight the guards, free the slave-prostitutes, and imprision the false priests. Set the girls cleaning the temple and restoring it, while the priests are put in stocks in the market square. City guards come and complain about this, saying that while they consider the capture of the temple an internal religious matter, punishment of people as if a criminal is a matter for the magistrates.
Back to the temple of Love where they preached to the assembled people about Love and how to live it. They met Hannibal, a merchant devoted to the goddess of Love who was greatly pleased at what had happened. They set him up as an administrator of the temple, selling candles etc. and buying food for the former prostitutes, now nuns.
The high-priest of the god of the Sun arrived, leading a small entourage of priests and warriors from their temple. Ceremonially asking permission to enter "as the god of the Sun asked permission to enter the goddess of Love" they celebrated late into the night with the dragonriders and the others in the temple, explaining how a union of the Sun and Love was important and that they welcomed the return of authentic worship to the temple of the goddess of Love. They invited the dragonriders to their temple the next morning at dawn to preach to the assembled worshippers.
A dawn, Gin & Meade went to the Sun temple where the assembled worshipers greeted the rising sun. They partook of a sacred dark beverage which was highly stimulating and gave them great energy, and then Gin preached to the crowds on the union of the Sun and Love making life. The high priest of the Sun told them suggested they should choose a person to be the high priest of their temple (because they were going to the Pearl Sea to get the antidote) and also told them about the ritual marriage between the Sun and Love that would spiritually replenish the temples (a man from the Sun temple marrying a woman from the Love temple). Invigorated by this, they flew away on their dragons.
When they passed over the market square, they saw a disturbance - the slavers were selling there, but parishioners from the temple of Love were preaching in the market, encouraging people to an authentic Love rather than a debased practice, and preaching against slavery. The people in the market were reacting much as one might expect - some were offended, agitated, others were open to it, but most were just ignoring the crazy religious people. However, it seemed that the cult was growing and achieving some good. The local guards asked the dragonriders to encourage their people to move along - while not doing anything illegal, they were clearly disrupting trade.
They agreed and returned to the temple, where they met Hannibal's daughter Thisbe. The dragonriders suggested to Hannibal he become the priest of the temple, but he was unsure. His daughter, however, encouraged him - saying he'd shown such love to her and to her mother when she was alive, and that he knew all about the goddess of Love and her true worship. He agreed.
At that point, a cloaked figure arrived - he revealed himself to be a guard named Pyramus who had heard the preaching in the market square and was moved by it. He was hiding his identity because he would be in trouble with the guards if he were seen. He and Thisbee hit it off immediately, and it was clear they were falling in love. Thinking that this might be an opportunity for the ritual marriage, the dragonriders asked if he was a devotee of any particular god. Somewhat embarrassed, he admitted to being a follower of the mystery cult of the Bull of Heaven - he had progressed through the first three mysteries (blood, flesh, genitals) but was considering leaving it and becoming a follower of the god of Love.
Tired after their late night and early morning, the dragonriders slept ... and had a prophetic dream where they saw a chained man freed by glowing white-gold light and then him joining with a woman who glowed with the pink light of the goddess of Love.
The next morning, the dragonriders went to the temple-library of the goddess of Wisdom, and looked up information about the Bull of Heaven. With the help of a Basti priest called Simba they learned some information about the deity and came to realize that the ritual marriage might work if they could rejoin the Bull of Heaven to the Sun god or similar. Seeking information from the priests of the Sun, they found the high priest sunbathing ... but in his delirium he had experienced a vision which he related;
I dreamed of a bull, harnessed for ploughing. I dreamed of a bull, ridden by a woman with hair and black as night and skin as white as alabaster. I dreamed of a bull, chained in the darkness. I dreamed of a bull, who would no longer plough for his mistress. I dreamed of a bull....
Puzzled by this, they realized it referred to the goddess of the Harvest and they returned to the library to learn more. There they learned that the Bull of Heaven had been the lover of the goddess of Harvest and that he was chained by the jealous god of the Underworld. A plan formed ... if they could free the Bull of Heaven from the Five Hells, that would facilitate the ritual marriage and perhaps pay off the debt they owed the goddess of the Harvest . . .
Wishing to seek the advice of the priesthood of the goddess of the Harvest, they went to her temple. It looked like a large farmhouse, with fields and orchards behind it. But the fields were barren and filled with stunted weeds, and the orchards nothing but dead and twisted trees - there had been no harvest for a long time. They entered the main temple, and found themselves in a room that looked much like a farmhouse kitchen. Kneeling praying at an altar to her goddess was a young, beautiful girl with black hair and pale skin - Meade noticed her hair was not naturally that color, but was dyed (Gin didn't notice, perhaps because he was too focused on her loveliness!) - wearing black silk and many pieces of silver jewelry. The altar she was worshipping at had a statue of the goddess on it, a sickle and a sheaf of wheat - but the what was dry and old and dusty; clearly not from a recent harvest.
She turned as the Dragonriders entered, snatching up the sickle and making ready to defend herself - but they quickly put her at ease. She said her name was Core and she was the daughter of the former high priestess. Years ago, when she was just a child, the followers of the goddess of the Moon had opened the southern gates and the evil Caarth, the serpent-people worshipers of the Moon goddess, had broken into the city and despoiled the temple, kidnapping the priesthood and taking them into their cities in the Pearl Sea. They had salted the fields, so that nothing would grow - it would take a great miracle to plough the salt out of the earth.
The Dragonriders were now much impressed with their idea - not only would they be freeing the lover of the goddess of the Harvest and enabling the ritual marriage, but the Bull of Heaven could plough the salt out of the fields ... and when they went to the Pearl Sea they could rescue the priests! The difficulty of doing all this did not seem to bother them, especially Gin who was using all his charm on the lovely (and receptive) Core, who was very impressed with their heroism and tales of daring-do.
But it would not be easy to break the chains that held the Bull of Heaven captive, nor would it be simple to get into the Underworld. They could enter via a portal or gateway as they had done before - and the temples of the Bull of Heaven were built over such portals (Pyramus would perhaps be able to be persuaded to tell them where this secret temple was...) - but they would need the tincture of Hellebore Root to protect themselves.
Fortunately, Core had the recipe to prepare the tincture of Hellebore root in her mother's books and she would do so for them. Inspired, they went to the marketplace and bought Hellebore root from a merchant who was selling many other kinds of lotions and potions (including many to "rub on ones johnson" to restore virility ... it seemed many of his best customers were "devotees" of the former worship at the temple of Love). He spoke about the value of various dragon-fluids but the Dragonriders demurred to sell any to him.
Then, they went to the temple of the god of the Forge, hoping to get some aid in breaking the chains he himself had forged. The temple was located in the center of the craftsmen's quarter, surrounded by many workshops. In the temple itself, offerings of crafts were being made to a statue of the god by putting them in a fire. Gin and Meade resolved to forge some chains, the very best they could, and offer them to the god. To this end, they hired the use of a workshop from a blacksmith (who recognized they were from Pelopon but did not think they were "homos" .... but did commiserate with them, because "all women from Pelopon are lesbians.") They forged the chains and offered them to the god of the Forge.
The were gifted with a vision - the statue animated and asked them what they wanted. They said they wanted something to break the chains that held the Bull of Heaven captive. The god of the Forge considered, and agreed if they would speak to their mother for him - once they had been close, but his errors had spoiled that. They had once made something beautiful and he would like to make something beautiful again. They agreed and the god gave them his hammer - made of solid steel and much heavier than would be expected.
They returned to the temple of the Harvest, where they obtained the tincture of Hellebore root from Core (and Gin kissed Core passionately lest he not return from the Underworld). Then they went to the temple of Love where they prayed to their mother (putting a good word in for the god of the Forge). Pyramus was there and had evil news - the various slavemasters and others angry with the new direction the temple of Love was taking were going to assault the temple in the morning, and the guards had been told to stand by and do nothing! He had tried to persuade Hannibal and Thisbe to flee, but they would not listen. The Dragonriders persuaded Pyramus to tell them the location of the temple of the Bull of Heaven and he agreed to take them there that evening. He said they should present themselves as warriors wishing to join the cult. They agreed and arranged to meet outside the temple of the god of the Sun at dusk.
Just before dusk the dragonriders made their way to the temple of the god of the Sun, where they told the priests about the threat coming in the morning and asked for aid. Then they met up with Pyramus and made their way to the secret location of the temple of the Bull of Heaven.