VII. The Cult of Submission

The shop fronted onto an alley strewn with wreckage, burned buildings, and chained and abandoned shops, including what appeared to be taverns, women's clothiers, weapons dealers and vendors of spirits. On the walls of the various buildings in the alley the party saw posters and slogans, all in an incomprehensible language (or languages). Chip promptly cast tongues, and was able to read the strange writing.

The poster showed an apparently humanoid figure enclosed within a dark, ugly, shapeless garment of some kind, with only eye-holes. The figure's hands were visible but gloved. Written above and below the figure was the following: "FEMALES--This is your only allowable attire!"

Firiona, enraged by the poster, attempted to rip it down, but only succeeded in breaking her fingernails, as the poster was glued to the wall.

Chip reported that other slogans included "Honor the Most Praised One!", "Submit to the Only God!" and other writings of an apparently religious nature.

The party headed out of the alley. In the background, they thought they could hear some kind of noise, perhaps from a crowd somewhere in the distance. The alley joined a larger way, and the party bore right. Firiona quaffed a potion of invisibility. To her surprise, the potion had no effect! Edward attempted to detect evil, and found that his detection power also did not function!

Suddenly the party encountered an armed squad of five men. All of the men wore black pajama-like uniforms, half-masks and black head wrappings, wore long, unkempt, scraggly beards, and smelled very bad indeed. The squad called out to the party in an ugly, uncouth, harsh language. Chip translated for the party.

Chip asked the squad who they were, and the squad leader replied, "The Committee for the Suppression of Vice and the Preservation of Virtue." The leader demanded that the party raise their hands and identify themselves. Suddenly one of the squad spotted Firiona--an improperly garbed female! Immediately, the squad attacked!

The party, however, was faster than the squad, and soon the squad were slaughtered. However, during the fight, two of the squad members made use of a strange weapon: an ornate, hand-held device, including a tubular element affixed to a handle, which produced a loud sound and apparently launched a small projectile at its intended target. Two of the projectiles struck Edward, doing substantial damage both to him and to his armor. The party stripped the squad of all valuables, including their strange weapons, and moved on.

The thought occurred: could these be the weapons Dumoin spoke of? And if so, might they not be far too dangerous to bring back home with them?

The party continued toward the source of the crowd noise, which Chip could now begin to understand. There were cries and wailing from women and children, some calls for "mercy", and also what appeared to be prayers or recitations of religious texts. Edward quaffed another potion, again to no effect.

Passing another side street, the party decided to break into a building. The building turned out to be the bleak home of an impoverished family. The family had seen how the party had dispatched the CSVPV squad. The father asked how they had managed to kill them, while the son asked if the party had "come to save them?" With Chip again translating, the party asked for additional information, and was informed that "the Submitters will kill anyone who opposed them!" The party quickly decided to attempt to rescue those who were about to be killed. The family provided the party with suitable clothes to pass for local residents, and the party set off.

The alley was not far from what appeared to be the central square of a small city. The square was filled with people crying, shouting and wailing. Surrounding the square, however, were eighteen armed men, all attired in the same garb as the squad the party had killed, and all apparently having the same poor grooming and low level of personal hygiene. At the southwest of the square was a religious edifice, which appeared to have been desecrated and converted into a temple of the city's rulers. A platform was erected in front of the temple, upon which were five more men, again in the same ugly attire as the others.

The leader of the five men on the platform began to recite:

"In the name of the Only God, the Just, the Merciful! Praise be to the Only God, Lord of the world! King on the day of judgment! You only do we worship, and to you do we call for aid. Guide us on your straight way, the way of those to whom you have been gracious, with whom you are not angry, and who follow the path of Submission."

The leader then shouted, "Bring forth the infidels!" A woman, two men, and a family were forced to move out from the defiled temple onto the platform. The leader then read charges against each of the victims.

"Sigrid, daughter of John, you have been brought before the Council of Submitters for the city of Jazaya, formerly known as Stansbury, and have been found guilty of appearing in public without a male escort. The penalty for your offense is death in a manner selected by the Submitters.

"Dunstan, son of Elwood, you have been brought before the Council of Submitters and have been found guilty of failing to cease labor in your business during the call to prayer. The penalty for your offense is death in a manner selected by the Submitters.

"Gwylim, son of Athelrede, you have been brought before the Council of Submitters and have been found guilty of drinking alcohol and worshipping false gods. The penalty for your offense is death in a manner selected by the Submitters.

"Wilmer, son of Hemling, you have been brought before the Council of Submitters and have been found guilty of resisting the orders of the Submitters, blasphemy against the Most Praised One, and attempted rebellion. The penalty for your offense is death both for yourself and for all of your family, in manners selected by the Submitters.

"Dogs, you have been judged and are unfit to live in the Abode of Submission. In the name of the Only God and the Most Praised One, His Holy Prophet, I hereby order the destruction of your bodies and the condemnation of your souls to eternal torment in the Abode of Unbelief. All here present are commanded, in the name of the Most Praised One, to contemplate the impending doom of these infidels and be aware that a similar fate awaits all those who defy the will of the Most Praised One and reject the divine revelation of Submission. Proceed."

But the party had made their plan, and the savages' executions were unexpectedly interrupted.

Firiona attempted to cast dimension door. A strange sensation overtook her as she did, but after about a second, the spell functioned, and Firiona, Edward and Lou suddenly appeared on the platform! Green Arrow, having positioned himself at the northeast edge of the square with a good view of one squad of guards, pulled out his concealed bow and began shooting them. As he had noticed during the battle with the CSVPV agents, he found that he was unable to fire as fast or as powerfully as he had expected, but he was still able to kill several guards before they knew what hit them. Arnold had snuck up behind the same group of guards and proceeded to backstab another guard. Edward slashed at the cultists on the platform, cleaving one after another and reducing the group to a bloody pile. Lou attempted to cast harmonic chorus on Firiona, but to his dismay, it seemed to have no effect. Firiona in turn attempted to cast arc lightning on the second group of guards, but no lightning came forth. Chip kept hidden well away from the action, awaiting instructions from Edward. Mediel, however, used his abundant step power to appear behind the second group of guards.

By now both the savages and the crowd in the square realized that the "Submitters" were under attack. Green Arrow continued his attack on the first group of guards, killing several more before ducking behind the crowd for cover. Arnold killed another guard. Edward tried to activate his boots of speed, but to no effect; he then ran down the stairs from the platform and took cover at the corner near the second group of guards.

The surviving guards finally reacted. Each drew forth another strange weapon, somewhat similar to the weapons used by the CSVPV, but longer and with a longer, more ornate, club-like element which they braced against their shoulders, and began using the weapons indiscriminately against the general area of the platform. Several people in the crowd were killed. Firiona was struck by a projectile which caused a severe, burning pain. Edward was struck by another projectile, despite his attempt to take cover, and suffered a remarkably serious, almost critical, wound from it. But then Mediel flurried against the second group of guards, killing three of the savages. Lou and Firiona, meanwhile, began to loosen the bonds of the prisoners on the platform and got them to duck down.

Green Arrow, Edward, Arnold and Mediel proceeded to kill most of the remaining guards with little difficulty. Three of the savages fled. The crowd in the square fell silent briefly, then began to cheer. Some began screaming their hatred for the Submitters and attacked the bodies of their fallen oppressors.

Edward then signalled for Chip to come to him on the platform. The party began to gather the strange weapons of the Submitters when a covered figure ran up the stairs to the platform.

"Hurry! You must flee! They will soon return with reinforcements! There are thousands of them nearby. Reprisals are certain, but I can help you escape. But you must bring the prisoners with you, their lives will surely be forfeit if they remain here!" As the figure spoke, it removed its head covering, revealing itself to be a beautiful young woman. And even as she spoke, horns sounded in the distance.

Arnold, ever suspicious, asked the prisoners, via Chip, if they knew this girl. Wilmer, the father, replied that she had been the girlfriend of his son, who had died in battle. The girl spoke with contempt of the conquerors. "Submitters! They are stupid, ignorant fanatics, they stink like pigs, and most of them don't even practice their own stupid creed. I hate them all!"

The girl urged the party to follow her. She explained that she knew a guard at one of the city gates, and that she could get him to let them pass. "He does things for me, and I let him use my body," she remarked (to Arnold's unspoken disapproval). "So much for 'preservation of virtue'," she spat. "I hate him more than the others--he was one of us until the city fell, and he desired me even though he knew I belonged to another, but then he became an apostate to their evil creed. Someday I hope to feed him his own privates before I kill him."

The girl led the party to an abandoned warehouse on the south side of the city, where they rested. Edward took the opportunity to ask the girl about what had happened to the city. She explained that the city had fallen to the Submitters about six months ago. "The Duke fought valiantly, but he was far outnumbered by the savages. He was forced to retreat across the river. He has taken refuge in his castle in the southern mountains."

The girl suggested that the party attempt to reach the Duke. The best way to reach him was to attempt to cross the southern countryside, avoiding the main road and the village of Kenningthwaite, and then try to cross the Brandy River. On the other side of the river they could reach the town of Long Combe, which was still held by forces loyal to the Duke.

Firiona asked the girl, via Chip, if she knew anything of magic. "Magic?" replied the girl. "Old folk-tales speak of "magic," but I don't believe in it. Most people don't. Witchcraft has always been forbidden." She then looked more carefully at Firiona, as well as at Arnold, Lou and Green Arrow. "You are certainly strange folk! I've never seen the likes of you. Although you two small ones bring to mind an old story that was told of a strange traveler, short but stout, and unfamiliar with our language. Dumoin, I think his name was."

At this point, the girl's speech became unintelligible to Chip, and he had to cast tongues again. The girl looked at him in dismay as he did so. "You asked of magic. Is this your own witchcraft?!" she exclaimed. But she quickly set the thought aside, and again urged the party to follow her to the gate and out of the city. Edward, finally, asked the girl her name. "Marla," she replied.