Slime Salad

At the mention of the impaled heart symbol, Father Cygnus immediately grimmaces, but he remains kind and friendly as he explains;

"You mean the Icon of Lockean, god of Pirates. You might say that his domain, and the domain of my Lady Umbarlee... overlap, thus making them rivals."

Then cheerfully, he adds, "But no matter who you worship-- even The Eternal Scoundrel-- you are still welcome to worship here. Umbarlee welcomes all who breathe."

He seems to be edging back towards his soft chair.

Hyne grimaces subtly, though for very different reasons. He then asks, "How did a pirate goddess' pantheon become prevalent in this kingdom, anyhow? There must be a history, especially with a church rivalry present."

Father Cygnus looks for a moment like he is trying to decide whether or not to be offended, then he seems to come to the conclusion that Hyne is just honestly asking.

"Come, sit." he says, gesturing to a wooden chair. "Do you want any tea?" He waves in the direction of a small cheery kitchen with a steaming kettle and a lot of spice racks as if Hyne is expected to pour it himself.

Cygnus sits back down in his chair, and explains;

"Lockean is the only Pirate god revered in Srappa, but it is indeed true that most of the important deities worshipped in this kingdom have a... nautical element to their domains."

"Besides Lockean and his Pirates, there is Ayailla, who has has dominion over starlight and navigation, Mouquol who haggles over the Trade-Winds, and of course, my beloved Umbarlee, Lady of the Storms and Mother Of The Drown."

"If all you have seen of Srappa is its inland forests, then you haven't seen the true Srappa. You must journey to the sea before you can feel the beating of the Coastal Heart of the kingdom."

After sitting in the chair he listens to the other deities of the sea listed off, and when Umbarlee is described in more detail, he tilts his head, "Mother of the Drown?"

"So how prominent is the Locklean church when it shares a kingdom with other churches of sea goddesses?"

"Yes, Mother of the Drown" says Father Cygnus cheerfully. "She welcomes all who breathe!"

He picks up his cup of steaming tea, and holds it in front of his lips. Then he abruptly sucks a large gulp of the tea into his lungs, holds it for a few bug-eyed seconds, and then coughs it all out violently all over his lap. "HACK! HAK! COUGHCOUGHCOUGH WHEEZE (dribble)"

This fills the air with the scent of mint and chamomile.

He puts down the tea, picks up a small hand-towel, and absent-mindedly dabs himself with it, as he answers the rest of Hyne's question. "I don't know the exact numbers of devotees, but Umbarlee and Lockean are the two most popular deities in Srappa. Both faiths have large temples in the Capitol city. Sailors and sea-men are a notoriously superstitious lot, and I know there are quite a few who pay homage to BOTH, but really we do strongly discourage that. Umbarlee is a jealous goddess, but what can you do? Pirates don't want to drown before their time, and those who bind their whole lives and deaths to the sea don't want trouble with Pirates, so you can certainly understand the overlap.... But we really do strongly discourage it all the same."

Before Hyne has a chance to ponder such a meaning, the priest seems to begin drowning on his drink almost on cue with what he had vaguely explained. He reaches forward but reels back when the liquid spews from the priest's mouth.

He slowly fades back into his chair before the man continues explaining. With an unsure voice, he comments, "So it is less of a rivalry, and more of a natural.. inconvenience that separates the followers?"

"Rivalry, inconvenience, blood feud, it's all the same I suppose", he says beatifically, "It is no matter. Even the Pirates all come around in the end. They will all serve my Lady Umbarlee someday, when they go down at last and forever into her watery bosom. Lockean is only concerned with the deeds of the living."

He puts away the towel and picks up the tea once more, bringing the cup close to his mouth. it looks like he is going to do it again.

Hyne did not expect the priest to become more transparent about the true nature of their dogma so easily. He tries to make a neutral remark, "Indeed, all things do come to an end, I suppose."

Before Cygnus can trouble himself with the tea once more, Hyne stands up, "I suppose I must leave, but first I want to ask about one more thing. The writing on the axe the smithy has been trying to peddle, do you know what kind of writing it has?"

"The Smith? Oh, you must mean Joseph. I believe he is a Mouquol worshiper. Fine fellow. Doesn't come in here often. I haven't seen this axe you speak of, but if you bring it here, I would be most happy to look at it for you."

"Well, thank you for visiting, young man! Come back any time, and feel free to meditate in the chapel whenever you please, day or night."

He gulps another lungful of tea, and after the coughing is finished, he picks up his book and begins to read.

Hyne nearly sighs. The Blacksmith wants him to bring the axe too. It seems a bit of a fetch quest is on the way, "Well, okay. Please wait here and I'll bring the axe, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a look at it before I truly leave."

And he does, he will fetch the axe and bring it to have it looked at. He says, "I can't afford an identify spell, but I'm sure you might have some insight on what the writing might be like and what kind of powers you might feel, if there's any."

The blacksmith seems happy that Hyne has returned and is happy to give him the black axe. "Let me know what you learn, and Good Luck!" He chuckles at what he thinks is a good pun.

As he carries the axe back to the Temple, Hyne can feel that it is cold, hard, and perfectly balanced. It seems like a finely crafted tool, and the way the moonlight glints off the edge makes it clear that it is very, very sharp.

Upon returning to the Temple, Hyne finds Father Cygnus deeply absorbed in his book. He seems to have finished drowning in his tea.

"Beautiful instrument" he exclaims as he examines it.

He examines the markings with a magnifying glass, and pulls a few reference books off his shelves and flips through certain sections.

Finally he concludes, "I can't find any script that resembles this. It does seem like writing, but I suspect it is really just a decorative flourish-- like an artist's concept of what a forgotten language might look like."

Then he casts a Detect Magic spell on it.

"It does glow with an aura of conjuration, but I couldn't speculate on exactly what spell or spells. Not without a full Identification Ritual, which requires some expensive pearls that I don't presently have."

Then he casts Detect Good or Evil spell on it. "These spells are on-the-house, by the way, no charge for a little first-level stuff among friends... Ah! Yes, This axe also has an aura from some deity or power of the type traditionally labeled 'Evil'. Again, I can't tell which one, but I know it isn't my Lady Umbarlee, I would know her loving evil touch at a glance, and this one isn't hers!" He blushes modestly as he says this last bit.

"Thanks, that's all I needed to know. Then it might be safe to say that the axe may be cursed in some way like the smithy said. He said something about it being unlucky, do you know what evil god might be responsible?"

"Hmmm, well, there are so many different gods and goddesses... and so many different ways to interpret bad luck... I find 'Bad' to be such a subjective word. Who specializes in bad luck?" Father Cygnus takes another tome off his bookshelf and begins leaving through it.

"Nadirech? No, he's more about trickery... Avandra? Not her, she's solidly in the 'good' end of the spectrum" He makes a distasteful face and does air-quotes with one hand as he says this.

He keeps flipping... "Chourst of Slaad? No, he is more about chance in general, not specifically bad luck..."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know... All these are foreign gods with little sway here. I can't think of any local deities of power who even remotely... Unless... Well, maybe Vecna... He doesn't have anything to do with luck, but cryptic markings that look like writing but probably aren't? That seems Vecnan enough."

Hyne starts to sound worried, "I think I've heard of that god before.. I never heard anything about bad luck, but always something about bad news when it came to that name."

"Vecna's domain is Secrets and Lies" says Father Cygnus "So it is hard to get any reliable information about him or his worshipers" he shrugs.