Bonus Content: Rialla needs to perform a ritual to reactivate her scrying mirror. What will she see when she calls upon the powers that reside within?
When she had attempted to use her mirror in Kadiba, she learned its scrying ability had been cleansed. In order to use it again, she would need to perform a ritual under the new moon. Sneaking out of the tent she shares with Jokul, Rialla finds herself a quiet spot far from the others to restore its powers.
As she calls forth her power and falls into meditation, she is transported into the mirror. When the spell takes full effect, the face of her ancestor forms in front of her. Before they can speak however, the form of another takes their place.
Follow Dax @GM_Dax, Cole @ColeMorreale and Wren @ThornyDryad
Transcript by Dax
Upbeat piano intro music ends [00:28]
Dax: Rialla you open your eyes.
Mystical background music fades in [00:32]
Dax: The darkness of the tent edged with the dim firelight outside. You can hear Jokul’s steady breathing, and you know he has entered his trance. You gather your things and escape through the back entrance to the tent, meandering through the woods to avoid Eight’s watchful gaze. You’re able to make it back to the entrance of the woods, the dark sky above an inky black dotted with thousands of stars. You walk along the border of the forest, under the new moon, your mind wandering to the events of the day.
In Kadiba, you were able to procure most of the ingredients from that strange shopkeeper. Though she had said the powdered silver would be difficult to find, you managed to procure some from the cartographer who sold you the map. His specialty was dusting maps with it for the wealthy folk who wished to display items of beauty in their homes. You knew he gave you an upcharge but, due to time restraints you were willing to pay it. You ended up luckily being able to spot sight-root along the road, completing the list of ingredients for tonight’s ritual. Fate was on your side.
Far away from camp, you can see the firelight in the distance. The sky is incredibly dark above you, except for the stars..there is no moon. If you look hard you can see a black spot, in that velvet with diamonds above. What do you do to prepare for this ritual?
Cole: I slowly make my way away from camp and, once I feel that there is enough space between me and them, I reach into my pouch and I have ground up herbs and I scatter them in a circle around me. I kneel on the ground, and out of my bag, I set down the pouch, I have a bowl, I have a jar of water. In another bottle a small, palm-sized bottle is the sight-root I set down and lastly, the ground up silver.
I take a moment to close my eyes, clear my mind, before I set to work. I take the bowl and set it in front of me, tracing a fingertip around its lip. I take the water, still in its jar, and I hold it and in Thevenoudian...and for a moment the jar flashes and pulses. The water is now holy. I pop the cork and gently pour it into the bowl, making sure to not spill any of it. Cap it again, set it down. Take a moment to collect myself, and from, uh, in my bag I pull out the mirror wrapped in a velvet cloth. And I trace the symbol, my family’s crest on the back. I think back to the last time I had this mirror, the last time I saw it. It’s been so long.
I dip the mirror into the water and it almost looks like...the mirror almost seems to glow like the water did. I take the sight-root, freshly ground, and I sprinkle it over the top of the surface. The silver powder goes on top of that and I trace the lip of the bowl again, clockwise, and I begin praying again. Thevenoudian words still spill from my lips, like it’s the most natural thing. I haven’t spoken..I haven’t spoken it in so long. And as I’m going around, clockwise, the water begins to move. Also swirling clockwise and the silver powder begins to glow like moonlight as it merges with the sight-root. And..the mirror seems to pull in the silver and the sight-root.
The once matte, black, surface regains its reflective surface as the silver molds to it and I think I sit there waiting until the water is clear again, until I can see the mirror. Before...I almost nervously reach into the bowl to take the mirror back. My fingers anxiously wanting..wanting it in my hands again. I take the mirror out, I press my palm to its cold wet surface, and in Thevenoudian I say,
Cole (as Rialla): Show me once again.
Dax: As your palm touches the cold, wet glass and you finish your prayer you feel a heaviness come over your eyes. As if your lids...it’s just too much to keep them open. You recognize this for what it is and you let your eyes close, and you can breathe in [breathes deeply] the cool night air. And you sit there for what seems like minutes, hours, and yet at the same time it feels like no time has passed at all.
You can feel your sight extending beyond that of this mortal coil. It feels as if you’re looking at yourself from outside of your own body. You can see yourself kneeling out in the wilderness. A palm pressed against the black glass of the silver mirror. And then you feel the sight turn away from you, and the sky and the landscape around you starts to move past you. Faster and faster until everything is a blur and you can’t see it. And then everything goes dark, you’re surrounded by nothing except pure, black shadow.
Ahead of you there’s a pinprick of light, and that light becomes bigger and bigger. Until instead of nothing but darkness, you’re standing in pure golden sunlight. And ahead of you is a face that you don’t recognize. Skin is pale, the eyes..the color of pure gold, auburn hair. And at first, the figure is smiling. And then, you see them start to open their mouth as if they were going to say something. But before a single word can pass their lips the image is shred apart, and you’re back in darkness. You can hear,
Dax (as a whispered voice): Rialla...Rialla...
Dax: Echoing around you as if you were in a cavern. But you don’t see anything other than this darkness. You feel compelled to run, and you do. Faster and faster, pushing yourself to the edge. Everything - your heart is beating, you’re panting, you’re breathing so hard. You’re sweating from the exertion. And then something tells you to stop.
Ahead of you, once more, is another figure. This time, when the figure turns around, it almost, at first, is like you’re looking at a floating head. And as your eyes adjust to the darkness you see that this figure is wearing a tunic and trousers of the deepest night.
[music slowly fades to cold wind blowing during the figure’s description, starting at 11:41]
The hair, raven black. Skin is pale as alabaster. They wear a pendant, a silver one, made in the image of a raven’s head. And although the lips do not move, you hear that voice in your head.
Dax (as the figure): Well hello Rialla.
Cole: I..stare at her for a moment before it dawns on me.
Cole (as Rialla): Are you called...Baradesh?
Dax (as the figure): I am known by many names: Corvusa, Baradesh...the Black Mother. All the same.
Cole: I open my mouth to speak but I’m speechless. I can’t remember the last time I was visited.
Cole (as Rialla): Ah, I’m..I’m sorry my lady.
Dax (as Baradesh): Why do you apologize?
Cole (as Rialla): I-I...I can’t find the words that I want to say. How...how..wh-wher-where are we?
Dax: The face looks around, to the right and to the left. And then her eyes are back on you.
Dax (as Baradesh): You mean..this?
Dax: And she motions to the nothingness around you.
Cole (as Rialla): Yes. This is..different..from the other times I’ve used the mirror.
Dax: She snaps her finger.
[Dax snaps once]
Dax: Before you know it the world around you melts, and you’re in a scene you recognize all too well though it’s been so, so long since you’ve seen it. You stand on a floor of marble, matching columns line the porch. You look out onto the landscape and everything is soft and covered by a golden sun. Blue sky and puffy clouds. You look behind you and you can see the glass and gold doors that would lead into your childhood home.
[cold wind fades into serene music 14:19]
Dax (as Baradesh): Is this..preferable?
Cole (as Rialla): I…
Cole: I..I look around and I’m speechless again. As I look behind me, do I..do I see..what I lost?
Dax: You are still in the same form that you were when you did the ritual. But everything around you is exactly as you remember it from when you were a little girl.
Cole (as Rialla): M’lady..h-have you been with me the whole time? Seeing that we’re here?
Dax (as Baradesh): I have been with you since he died. This..
Dax: And she motions to everything surrounding you.
Dax (as Baradesh): Everything you see here is drawn from your memory.
Cole (as Rialla): I see. Is there something you need of me?
Dax (as Baradesh): I brought you here because I know you have questions and you’ve...seemed terribly lost as of late. I’ve been waiting for you to try and reactivate that mirror.
Cole: I look down at my feet and sort of clothes my eyes and take a deep breath and look up again.
Cole (as Rialla): I can ask anything?
Dax (as Baradesh): Yes. I cannot guarantee I have the answers, but you can ask.
Cole (as Rialla): So he’s really gone then.
Dax: You see a very slow nod of “yes”.
Cole (as Rialla): My family didn’t make it then, did they?
Dax (as Baradesh): Unfortunately, Thevenoud is outside of my domain. I do not have access to that.
Cole (as Rialla): Do you know why...do you know what happened to him?
Dax: She tilts her head a little bit, then looks out at the green landscape.
Dax (as Baradesh): Bits and pieces. What we know is that he was betrayed, killed by one of our own. His murderer now lies chained in the Seven Hells as punishment for her crime. For the taking of a god’s life is an unforgivable sin, even from one of us. We do not know why she did it, we can conjecture all we want. But she won’t betray that secret.
Cole (as Rialla): This...I have so many questions.
[Cole sighs]
Dax (as Baradesh): You have time here.
Cole (as Rialla): Is Jokul safe?
Dax (as Baradesh): He lies sleeping, beside Arthas, next to your barren sleeping blanket. Eight watches over him.
Cole (as Rialla): I meant, um, does anything..anyone wishing ill will against him..following?
Dax (as Baradesh): Mm. Probably should’ve been more specific with that first question then, hmm?
Dax: And she smiles, just a little bit.
Cole (as Rialla): Sorry my lady.
Dax (as Baradesh): You have no need to apologize.
Dax: She walks away from you, towards the edge of the porch, and places her hands on the large marble railing.
Dax (as Baradesh): [sighs] For now you and Jokul are safe. Those that you were fleeing have not yet figured out that you have skipped to another plane of existence. I cannot foresee how long that will last, for that is not under my protection. But I can tell you that as we speak right now, you and Jokul have nothing to fear of the King’s Sworn.
Cole (as Rialla): How can I better serve you, my lady?
Dax (as Baradesh): You are already doing your best. I might recommend though, the next time you have the opportunity to visit a temple, an offering of incense and a prayer in Thevenoud would be most accepted.
[music fades and returns to the sound of cold wind blowing, starting at 18:39]
Cole (as Rialla): Understood.
Dax (as Baradesh): Now, I brought you here for questions, yes. But I also brought you here to warn you. The task that you and your companions have currently taken on..while Lady Benjamina has full faith in you her advisors do not. Basil and Captain Keylan do not trust any of you. And even now, they work against you.
Cole (as Rialla): Interesting. Thank you, my lady.
Dax (as Baradesh): She has sent you to Kidohlva, has she not?
Cole (as Rialla): Yes, she has.
Dax (as Baradesh): Along your journey, you may meet a certain fellow. Someone from the western continent, who might be the key…
Dax: And she just raises her eyebrows.
Cole (as Rialla): A key?
Dax: She nods.
Cole (as Rialla): Someone from the western continent...okay.
Cole: I sort of stare off into the distance and I look like I’m debating with myself if I want to ask one last question. Sort of wring my hands, um, nervously twisting the ring on my finger.
Cole (as Rialla): M’lady may..may I ask you one last question?
Dax: She nods.
Cole (as Rialla): My abilities...they are unlike anyone else in my family. I...
[Cole sighs]
Cole (as Rialla): Where might I find the answers to where they came from and why? It’s something I have to find out on my own, but I don’t even know where to start.
Dax (as Baradesh): Find the spellweavers. They have access to some of the purest magic in all planes of existence.
Cole (as Rialla): Thank you. And I won’t let you down.
Dax (as Baradesh): You have already made me so proud, Rialla. I could not have asked for a better servant, than you. I am sorry I could not have saved more of your fellow clerics, but his domain was hard enough to break into.
Cole: Rialla just gives a very deep bow.
Cole (as Rialla): Thank you. I know that they rest easy.
Dax: She nods and as she does so she gives you a little bit of a bow herself. And before she can straighten up everything around you starts to fade, but when it does it’s almost like watching a painting dripping. From the top down everything, all the colors, begin to streak. As if oil was mixed with water and was pouring down the canvas.
[Mystical music fades back in 21:56]
Dax: And before you know it, the landscape is moving quickly again but instead of at you, it’s going away, and you can feel the ground underneath your knees. And as you open your eyes, your palm is still on the mirror only this time the mirror has a slight glow to it. And when you remove your palm, in the mirror is her face. And then it goes black.
Cole: I bring the mirror to my lips and give it a kiss, before carefully wrapping it in the velvet once more. Tying it with a bit of twine and tucking it into my bag. I take the holy water and to end the spell I turn counterclockwise and pour the water in a circle, and I pick up my jars and vial and tuck them away. And as..as I make my way back to camp I glance up at the new moon and sort of give a touch to my forehead. Give a smile, before pulling up my hood and going back to camp. I crawl into my shared tent and I see Jokul and I kiss him, and go to sleep.
Dax: You can hear Jokul breathing, calmly. You can tell he’s deep within his trance. And as you drift off to sleep the last thing you hear, as if somebody were whispering behind you,
Dax (as Baradesh): Rest now, little one.
[Music fades out 23:42]
[Outro begins 23:44]
Dax: Thanks for listening! We hope you’ll join us next time but in the interim, follow us on Twitter @RoadsUncharted.
The “Roads Uncharted” podcast is GMed and produced by Dax, using the Genesys Roleplaying System published by Fantasy Flight Games. You can follow me on Twitter @GM_Dax.
Jokul Genhorn is played by James, and Arthas, Champion of Offam is played by Neil.
Rialla Lenoir is played by Cole, follow them on Twitter @ColeMorreale and check out their art.
Eight is played by Wren, who also composed the music for our opening theme, follow them on Twitter @ThornyDryad.