RPM:20 Mahakala

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Starring: 🏹 Ehsan, 🐺 Ildefons, 🐘 One-Tusk, Renard
Guest Starring: Lisp, Yasser Ajam, Hakim Mahakla, Sabah Qarout, Alya Mahakala, Amal Mahakala
Challenge: Being held for a day for processing; Visiting Ehsan's Family and Father
Location: Redbrook, Mahakala (City), Wurud Palace, Crystal Rose Garden, Public Gardens
Date Played: 10 Jan 2018

Flashback to Redbrook...

🐺 Ildefons Renard, a Musketeer sent to catch up with us here, got in trouble with some of the locals. He insulted the parentage of a walruskin, and his bearkin friends. We were able (barely) to talk them down, with some minor concessions.

Exploring the City of Mahakala

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🎲 DM: Details of the city:

• Shoulder-to-shoulder crowded
• Larger than Lisway
• On the outskirts of town there is a hole that is deeper than anyone has explored
• The Forbidden Palace, where only the upper class may visit
• There is a small population of rodent Wildbloods who eke out a living by remaining hidden.
• Largest population of Dragonkin that the party has seen—about 10% of the city.
• There are big public gardens that feature a Path of the King, that has statues of all the leaders of Mahakala.

🐘 One-Tusk: Mahakala is an alien land… and yet disturbingly familiar. Riven with class distinctions, it reminds me of Arkstone, oh so long ago. But we're not here to interfere, and if a few pamphlets accidentally enter circulation… well, it's an accident.

🏹 Ehsan: Finally...home... Even with only being gone two years it has already changed so much. There is tension in the air that is harder to feel if you are not from here due to the sudden closing of the boarders. While home was not always so open as it was when I left, the country did resume trade while I was a child. This shift in the air is just barely there, but the people know there is something wrong.

These government officials....I swear I will kill them all. Days in port and now more waiting! Ridiculous! My birthmark and scales should be proof enough to let us through, but no! Apparently they're "tattoos"! Surely this is my mother's doing. Likely wanting to keep me away from father for as long as possible so that he will be so far into his illness that he will not recognize me. I cannot let my anger show in the palace when we eventually arrive. I must be the model daughter and see to my father's side. It is the least I could do. I do not want to distress my father in his already delicate state.

🐺 Ildefons After the physical and mental exams are passed allowing us to disembark and enter the city (a good venture: screen for disease; but over-applied, as everything here is).

I will explore this place more thoroughly once our primary goal -- get Ehsan situated with her family -- is accomplished. Until then, it's strictly passing through. It looks much like I remember it looking in my early years. Though clouded with time, it's the same: very dense, very crowded, very noisy, and very olfactory. I see the ratkin, despite (during my last visit anyway) their best efforts to eradicate them are everywhere in the corners. The giant gardens are as grand as always, but a bit too... tended. This will be a new experience, though: the Forbidden Palace. Of course, during my last visit with the family caravan, we were forbidden from visiting. I can't wait to see what wonders await us on the other side of the statue maze gardens.

Iiiinteresting: The servant here is a vollek. And here, we only previously knew of them from those that savaged us in the wilds. The servants in general endeavor to please us. Firefruit is amazingly delicious. (Pocketed a few seeds.)

While Ehsan visits with her inter family, her twin-teen sisters talk with us, and we learn from them what we can.

Visiting Ehsan's Dying Father, the Dragon King Hakim Mahakala

🏹 Ehsan: The palace is so much like how I remember and yet it is not at the same time. Yasser, one of the attendants, greets us on our entry and takes us to one of the dining rooms where we shall wait for my mother to escort me to father. Sabah arrives not long after and while we discuss father's illness, my two youngest sisters, Alya and Amal, are fascinated with my companions and talk their heads off. One Tusk, unsurprisingly, is attempting to talk to them about the benefits of "democracy" and the plight of the common people but it goes over their heads.

Seeing father confined to his bed...so small and just overwhelmed by the silks...it upsets me more than I thought it would. Before was a man so tall and broad, he commanded a presence as any Dragon King or Queen had before him but now...reduced to being so thin and sickly. I hate seeing him have to go through this. And the news about Qamar as well is equally as troubling. Found wanting? What does that even mean? I must speak with her about this to try and find out what is really going on. Sabah is being guarded about this as expected, but she does tell me what disease is afflicting father. Blight boil, the same disease Captain Hernaut was suffering. While I know Ildefons is not personally familiar with the disease he would at least be able to speak with physicians and try to convince them to seek outside help. The treatments in Arkstone were successful. All I can hope is that father is not so far along in his illness that they will not be able to help.