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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:03 am 
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Eirc shakes his head. "All you find under a lake is water." he states, emphatically. He clears his throat, and nervously ventures another question. "They're not fish-gods, are they?"

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 Post Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:48 pm 
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Itzel is disrupted from her duties by the type of cheer that can only signify that the game has been won. She slips away for a moment to listen to the teaming crowds and their gossip. She holds her breath until she hears of her husband's victory, then lets it out in relief. It would have been a great honor to be sacrificed to the gods, to be sure... Supposedly, it would have been a great honor to be passed around as a victory prize, as well, and she was just as happy to have that honor pass her by. As wife to the winning captain, she was now safe in a way that the widow of the losing captain would not be. She whispers a prayer for the poor girl, though what god listens to slaves?

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 Post Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:10 am 
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As darkness begins to fall and the festivities continue in the ball court, Hunac Ceel finds Tutul Xiu on the steps to the observatory. "My friend," the king says as he approaches, "I must apologize. I was too harsh with you before."

Tutul Xiu gives no indication of having heard him. Instead, he hugs his knees and rocks back and forth, staring off into the jungle.

"The victim at the Sacred Cenote survived," he continues. Tutul Xiu still does not look at the king, but he stops rocking and appears to be listening. "I asked him if he had a message from the gods, you know how it goes. He..." Hunac Ceel paused, feeling uncertain and not liking the feeling.

"He replied, 'They said that they are going to kill us.'"

Silence. Tutul Xiu begins rocking again, faster.

"I did not tell the people. There was no reason to, true or false; it would incite mass panic before I could know what to do. I should have listened to you before, my friend, but I am ready now. Tell me what you want me to do."

Slowly, Tutul Xiu stands and finally turns his gaze on his king, but he appears to be looking through him instead of at him. "You can do nothing," he says, his voice as distant as his eyes. "They are coming. You cannot stop them. The slaughter will be terrible."

"Surely there is something I can do for my people!" the king protests.

"There is nowhere to run. You cannot hide from the gods. The were-jaguars will find you. You cannot fight them. Their power is from Yum Kimil. No mortal man can defeat them."

"So we are just to lay down and die?"

"Read the stone. Play the game. Death reveals the truth."

"Please, I need more than riddles. You are wise! You can help us!"

Tutul Xiu's eyes finally seem to focus on Hunac Ceel, but his face crumples. "Tutul Xiu cannot help!" he wails. "Tutul Xiu is not chosen! There is no life for Tutul Xiu!" And before the king can stop him, he dashes off into the jungle, raving madly.

Hunac Ceel can't allow him to run around in the jungle just as the jaguars (flesh-and-blood ones, that is) are becoming most active. He quickly calls for some of his guard. "Tutul Xiu ran off there," he points. "Take your weapons and find him, then take him to his chambers to rest." "Ma'alob, nohoch halach winik," they reply in unison, and dash into the jungle brandishing torches and macuahuitl blades.

He returns to the festivities (the king needs to be seen at such an important event), but cannot hide the troubled look on his face. As they start to wind down, Eek' Maaskab returns to report to his king. "We have not been able to find him. We can keep looking..."

"No," the Hunac Ceel replied, sighing heavily. "I hoped he would be found quickly. Now it is getting late, and I do not want to risk more men out there with the beasts." He removes his ceremonial headdress to scratch his scalp. "It is time for the people to go to their homes. Let us go." Donning the headdress again, he steps up on the temple platform. "It is time for sleep. We will reconvene here in the morning for the ceremony to open the new b'ak'tun."

As the people disperse, the king returns to his palace. He hopes Tutul Xiu will be safe, but he can't shake a sense of foreboding. Sleep does not come easily.

The night deepens, and silent death visits Chichén Itzá.


END OF DAY 0


OOC: I plan to send out night roles sometime tomorrow.

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:36 am 
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11.0.0.0.0 6 Ajaw 8 Mak (Saturday, June 15, 1224)
Hunac Ceel's Palace, Chichén Itzá


The king wakes suddenly. He had been sweating, yet it is unusually cold. He feels as if he has just woken from a bad dream, but he cannot remember having dreamt anything. He pulls on his heavy jaguar pelt robe, unbars the door and steps out of his quarters...

...and trips over the body of Tutul Xiu.

Hunac Ceel's old friend is covered with blood, and the look on his face is ghastly, frozen in a grimace that portrays equal parts pain and terror. The king quickly draws Tutul Xiu's cloak over his face, then stands and listens. The city should have been bustling, especially on the first day of the new b'ak'tun, but it was eerily silent.

The trail of Tutul Xiu's blood leads down the steps. As he descends, Eek' Maaskab runs up to him. In all the time he had known the commander of the royal guard, the king had never seen fear on his face. Now it was there for all to see, were there anyone else besides his king to see it. Eek' Maaskab bows low. "Nohoch halach winik, the people of the city are dead. Only you and I are spared."

"Everyone?" the king replies, stunned.

"I have seen hundreds of bodies this morning, and not one living soul. There may still be someone alive, but I have yet to see them. I could search..."

"No. If any are alive, they will come to the ball court. This trail is Tutul Xiu's blood; let us follow it and see if we can find the place where this evil was done to him."

Together the two men follow the trail, passing bodies strewn left and right on the ground. The blood leads them south to the observatory. Going inside, the king sees that the trail goes up the spiral steps to the top. There they find a beautiful, intricately carved stele, splattered with blood, and a large pool of blood on the floor below it. Hunac Ceel's voice is grim. "This is where he was attacked," he says.

"My liege, look here." Eek' Maaskab indicates a portion of the stele.

The king looks, and sees a circle of blood, higher than the spatters, surrounding a symbol:

Image

"Tutul Xiu wanted us to see this," the commander says, squinting at the symbol. "I do not know the priests' writing, but it looks like the head of an animal."

"That is because it is an animal," the king replies, his voice leaden. "It is b'alam."

"Jaguar? He was killed by a jaguar? Why is it so important for us to know that?"

"Because it isn't just any jaguar. The word before it is spirit. A spirit jaguar."

Eek' Maaskab is silent for some moments. "What do you command, my liege?" he asks quietly.

"Go to the ball court. Wait there to meet any who might have survived. Tell them to wait there until I return."

"Must I leave you unprote--"

"Go. I will not be long."

"Ma'alob, nohoch halach winik," he replies, and takes his leave.

"Do not call me great," he mutters, though Eek' Maaskab is already beyond range of hearing. "If I were great, I would have done this yesterday." With that, Hunac Ceel begins reading.


Alive
Hunac Ceel (AlternateTorg) (GM)
Eek' Maaskab (NPC)
Citali (weatherwax)
Huracán (Stan Cold)
Eric (CCC)
Tohil (Kajin)
Itzel (SaveTheGreyhounds)

Dead
All other NPCs

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:14 am 
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Eric wanders through the city, looking at the dead bodies that surround him. His eyes are wide as he looks at the carnage, as he walks through the bloodstained streets. He holds his axe protectively, looking around and starting at any slight noises. The axe is sharp but clean and polished.

He meets no-one until he reaches the ball court.

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:45 pm 
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Citali wakes suddenly, covered in blood. She rises from her pallet, and from the body that was once her husband. She stares at the body a moment before saying a small blessing to the gods. She checks the room of her in-laws. They are also mangled, lying in pools of blood. She breaths in a shuttering breath, fighting the urge to flee.

She does not wash the blood from her hands or face as she carefully changes her clothes to the colors of mourning. She exits the house. Bodies line the streets. She keeps her head down as she passes the remnants of familiar faces, slowly making her way to the ball court.

"May this sacrifice be in honor of the gods," she murmurs. "And if it does not please the gods, may Kisin drag the offensive ones down to Xibalba."

She enters the ball court, and sees the strange pale man that had been sighted in town and gossiped about around the looms.

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:07 pm 
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"You!" calls out the strange pale man. "Was it you who did... this?" He waves one arm to indicate the carnage in the city around them. It just happens to be the arm that is holding his axe.

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:09 pm 
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Tohil awakens in the small hut he calls home. All the other children around him are dead, and his arms, legs and chest are covered in their blood. Panicking, Tohil grabs some nearby cloth and does his best to wipe it off of himself. Once he's done, Tohil heads for the ball court where he sees other survivors.

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:26 pm 
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Citali stares at the pale man for a moment. She then waves a hand in front of her sizable belly.

"I would have to be a feasting mother goddess to cause so much death," she says flatly. "I assure you, I am not a mother goddess, stranger. Please do not wave your weapon in front of me. It does not impress me."

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:34 pm 
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"Well, somebody did." Eric turns to Tohil. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

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 Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:53 pm 
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"No!" Young Tohil exclaims. "I don't know anything about what's going on! I just woke up and all of my friends and my brothers were dead... I was sleeping right next to them... How could I have not woken for that... Why am I still alive when they are dead? What's going on?!"

Tohil sits on the ground, his arms wrapped around his knees as he cries.

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 Post Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:41 am 
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Citali takes the boy and pulls him up to his feet.

"You are not a child anymore," she says sternly. "You have seen slaughter. A man does not weep. He faces death with his head held high."

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 Post Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:53 am 
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"I... I'll try..." Tohil sniffs. His eyes are still red and puffy but at least he's stopped crying. "What happened? Who did this to everyone?"

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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:24 pm 
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Huracán awakens. "Itzel, wake up. It is morning. Prepare the meal." Huracán walks out the door and sees the bodies in the street. "By the gods..." He runs back in. "Itzel, we must leave this place! The gods have cursed the town!"

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 Post Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:04 am 
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"Whoever did it was $#*$)@ quiet." murmurs Eric. "I don't believe that a mortal man could have killed so many without making enough noise to wake me." He glances around again. "And whoever did it, we need to get away from here as quickly as possible. I was trying to find a way out of the city when I came here."

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