XIII. Enter the Pilgrims

After thirty days, the pilgrim caravan passed through farms and plantations that gave way to small villages, which in turn yielded to more densely populated suburban areas. Finally, the caravan approached the gates of a vast walled city: K'tesif, capital of the Abode of Submission, residence of the Most Praised One. The entire area had a population of well over one million fanatic and suspicious savages. 

At the city gate, the pilgrims were put to the test: all who wished to enter the walls of the city were required to prove their knowledge of the creed of Submission, for only believers were allowed to set foot within! The Duke answered correctly, as did the rest of the party, save for the "children", Lou and Arnold, who were exempted by the questioning Submitter prayer leader. Having passed the test, the party, along with the rest of the pilgrims, were directed to an outer district of the city adjacent to the city walls, where quarters for pilgrims were set up.

The quarters proved to be dirtier, shabbier and more expensive even than those in Antachia. One pilgrim complained about the price, but was told to "consider it a donation to the Most Praised One in accordance with the Columns of Submission!" The party took to their assigned quarters and rested prior to dinner that evening in the inn's mess hall. The Duke explained that the Most Praised One might be at large in the city at some time during the next day, while his next scheduled appearance at the palace balcony was scheduled for two days hence.

Dinner at the mess hall proved to be every bit as unappetizing as the party feared. Long tables and benches were provided, all soiled with the accumulated residue of many previous meals. The party took seats, awaiting delivery of the meal.

A stranger asked them where they were from. Edward bluffed the inquisitive man, who then returned to a large number of his companions at an adjacent table and spoke to them, looking from time to time back at the party.

Thirty minutes elapsed before a server brought the party a tray with a large pot and worn, dirty bowls for each person. The fare within the pot, grayish, oily and unpleasantly aromatic, induced gagging in Lou and Arnold, but was consumed without relish by the rest of the party. The meal completed, the party returned to their room for the night.

Arising early the next morning, the party attended morning services at a Submitter temple down the street from their inn, enduring three hours of relentless anger, hatred and groveling at the promptings of the temple's prayer leader. On the way back to the inn, the party observed crowds of pilgrims heading down the street, all in a hightly excited state. The party followed the crowd. They arrived in time to observe a Submitter procession, at the end of which a large carriage with four white horses bore a bearded, unkempt figure in shabby black pajamas: the Most Praised One! The crowd of pilgrims hailed their prophet; the Duke nodded to the party to do the same. Firiona got a view of the prophet--just enough to facilitate scrying on him!

Back at the party's quarters, the Duke reported that the next scheduled palace appearance by the Most Praised One was tomorrow afternoon. Firiona then prepared to scry on the prophet.

In her mirror, Firiona observed the Most Praised One: tall, dark eyed, lean, with long, stringy, graying hair, a filthy, unkempt beard, apparent age about sixty years. The man was looking out from a wide hallway toward a balcony, with a number of guards nearby. Turning back from the balcony, the prophet headed down the hallway, past several doors and numerous columns and works of art, to a set of large double doors. He began to open the doors, then paused, and suddenly broke thunderous wind in the direction of his guards. He giggled childishly, then entered his quarters. A very large room, the quarters included several dressing rooms and closets, various items of furniture, a large armoire, a luxurious silk carpet bearing a depiction of a large golden sickle, and, at the far end of the room, a large, circular bed with many silk pillows. In the corner of the room was a large, ornate lectern bearing a highly decorated book with stout leather bindings.

The prophet removed a pair of pistols from about his waist and gave them to one of the guards for storage in a closet. He then whispered to another guard, "Bring him in in a few minutes." Firiona was puzzled by this order until she observed him sit down on the bed and disrobe. Shortly thereafter, the guard brought in a young boy and handed him to the prophet. Firiona watched in horror and disgust as the Most Praised One proceeded to molest and orally sodomize the young boy . . .

The vision ended, and Firiona reported the outrage to the rest of the party, who shared her disgust. "This is worse than even I imagined. It is all the more vital that we succeed here!" exclaimed the Duke. "So rest and prepare for the morrow. We must appear heavenly when the time comes." "They are a disgustingly dirty people, both physically and spiritually," observed Mediel, his voice dripping with contempt. "The Most Praised One teaches that bathing is un-natural," the Duke noted scornfully. "There is just no overstating the backwardness and stupidity of these savages. They're only good for one thing, and that's violence--which, unfortunately for the world, they are very good at."

The party repeated their previous morning's routine--early unpalatable meal followed by the lengthy harangue at the nearby temple--then returned to their quarters. A pilgrimage organizer warned them on their return to the inn, "Half an hour to departure! You don't want to miss it!" In their quarters, the Duke said, "They're going to be short a few today." But after about forty minutes, suddenly there was a knock on the door. The Duke signaled the party to beware, then answered the door. It was the man who had queried them during their first meal the day before yesterday.

"You did not join the other pilgrims," the man said. "We were unable to go today. Er, one of our companions is not feeling completely healthy," the Duke explained. "Ill health is no excuse, as the Most Praised One himself--peace be with him always--teaches. I think you had better come with me and explain yourselves," the man replied. "Why? Who are you?" asked the Duke. The man then signaled, and seven other men suddenly appeared in the hallway outside the party's quarters. "The Committee for the Suppression of Vice and Preservation of Virtue, of course," he answered. "Your failure to perceive this obvious truth further indicates that you are in fact not of the faithful. Come with us, now!"

"I think not," said the Duke. At this, the party grabbed their weapons and the fight was on! Mediel abundant stepped through the wall of the room and engaged several of the Submitters. Firiona threw a pistol to Lou, hiding behind the door of the room. The Duke grappled the Submitter leader, while the other savages attacked with whips. Then Green Arrow shot the leader with four arrows, killing him! The remaining Submitters drew their firearms and began shooting. They could not, however, defend themselves from Mediel's flurry, Lou's pistol or Edward's mightly blows. Soon the fight was over, as were the lives of the eight savages. The party quickly dragged the bodies into the room and stuffed them in the small room designated for females.

The party quickly cleaned themselves up and donned their heavenly disguises. Firiona prepared to scry again. Another knock on the door! Pulling his cloak over his costume, the Duke again answered, and convinced the inn worker that there had been a terrible fight in the hallway, while they hid in their room behind locked doors!

At thirty minutes before the scheduled appearance of the Most Praised One, the Duke proposed that they take the prophet in his quarters, tie him up, then teleport to the balcony and carry out their plan. The party quickly agreed. Firiona now scried again, and observed the prophet once again on the bed in his chamber, this time ravishing a young girl while servants on either side of the bed fanned him. She saw him finish his abuse and dismiss the servants and the naked girl, who was bleeding from between her legs as she limped away, crying. He rose from the bed and dressed in his filthy garb, without washing himself. Firiona had trouble containing her fury.

At this, the Duke said to the party, "It is said that all who meet the Most Praised One become Submitters. We'll soon expose that for the lie it is. Let's go!"

The party joined hands. Firiona cast teleport, and suddenly they were in the chambers of the Most Praised One! He looked at them. Strangely, he did not seem overly surprised at their appearance.

The Duke spoke. "Minion of evil, your reign is about to come to an end! The heavenly powers have decided your fate!" But the prophet simply replied, "Indeed? Come to me. Submit to the Only God." He looked at Edward and gestured. Suddenly, Edward was filled with an overwhelming desire to renounce all he had previously believed, follow the Most Praised One, and do his bidding! "Defend me from these infidels," a Rappic-speaking voice in his head told him. Edward immediately turned toward the Duke and attacked, shattering the Duke's sword and seriously wounding him!

Firiona immediately recognized that the Most Praised One had sorcerous powers and had managed to dominate Edward!  Quickly she attempted to dispel the dominate person spell. She succeeded!  Meanwhile, Green Arrow, unaffected by the dazzling words of the prophet, fired arrow after arrow at the Most Praised One, hitting four times and severely wounding him. The Duke battered the prophet. Edward, now freed from the malign influence of the Most Praised One, attempted to subdue him, but he proved almost unbelievably hardy.

The prophet pulled on a nearby silken rope. A gong rang out. He again looked at the party and said, "Let confusion be upon you." Green Arrow and Arnold immediately began babbling incoherently. Firiona attacked Lou, and in turn was attacked by Chip! But Mediel abundant stepped into the hallway, intending to prevent any summoned guards from intervening to save their prophet.

The Most Praised One again spoke and gestured to Edward, and once more Edward found the prophet's words and commands irresistable! But Green Arrow suddenly regained his senses, and attacked the Most Praised One. At last, the prophet was forced to his knees, subdued! Edward, Arnold, Lou, Firiona and Chip likewise returned to their senses, and just in time.  From a secret door in the prophet's quarters, four guards rushed into the room, while in the hallway four more set upon Mediel!

But the guards proved no match for Edward, Green Arrow and Mediel. They were quickly dispatched. The Duke cut the silken cord with the hilt of his shattered sword and bound the Most Praised One with it, then gagged him. Edward pulled a glittering, bejeweled ring from the finger of the prophet; the Duke stripped him of his black silk turban and seized his golden diadem. Lou grabbed the book from the lectern and examined it. It was none other than the original Recitation!

Firiona, still fuming from what she had seen, stepped up to the bound and gagged prophet and slapped him, hard!  Meanwhile, Edward, looking under the rug, found a secret door, opened in, and saw a stairway leading downward into darkness. He quickly shut and bolted the door. Arnold located the prophet's pair of ornate, bejeweled and inlaid pistols, together with a finely crafted sword, which he presented to the Duke to replace his shattered weapon.

The party wondered: how did the Most Praised One cast spells, when "witchcraft" was unknown on this world?! Firiona recalled that the Submitters had arisen to power for reasons no one understood. And she remembered the Duke's previous report of the persuasive powers of the Most Praised One. Could the prophet have come originally from another plane where magic also worked? Could he be from Greyhawk itself? Or was he a native to this world who had somehow developed sorcerous abilities?

Chip charmed the Most Praised One, and Edward interrogated him. "I was born in the land of Rappi, and I am the prophet of the Only God! His power will save me!" The Duke sneered, "Not on this world." The Duke then suggested that Firiona, Edward, Green Arrow and himself be teleported to the balcony, overlooking the main square of K'tesif, now filled with throngs of Submitter pilgrims, with the bound and gagged prophet, his evil book, and a flaming torch. There they would denounce both prophet and creed, before executing the Most Praised One and making their quick exit. Firiona proposed a final, spectacular effect: she would teleport the burning body of the prophet high above the crowd, from which point it would plummet onto the heads of the stunned and horrified pilgrims.

"A grand idea!" said the Duke, speaking Rappic for the benefit of the Most Praised One, as had been the rest of the party. The prophet heard the discussion of his fate and began trembling violently!

Mediel, Lou, Arnold and Chip barred all of the doors and took positions in the hallway and the prophet's chambers, intending to block any additional guards from attempting to rescue their prophet. The Duke, Firiona, Edward and Green Arrow, now dressed as messengers of the heavenly powers, with the struggling Most Praised One, teleported to the balcony. The crowd gasped as they recognized their prophet, bound, bagged and in the hands of beings of apparently divine power! Some among them seemed to recognize what they were seeing. The Duke addressed them in a stern and stentorian voice.

"Minions of Submission! We have been sent to Arth, and here, to this city of K'tesif, this stronghold of evil, this center of lies, to enforce the judgment of the heavenly powers upon this man, false prophet of a false creed!" the Duke declared.  "A creed not revealed by an angel, but by jinns of the underworld! Woe unto you, you deluded ones! And woe unto you, oh false prophet! The voices of your victims have been heard. The evil acts you have committed, and those done by your command and in your name, can never be forgiven, and will be punished!"

The Most Praised One, still gagged, began to weep, attempting to beg for mercy. A foul stench, beyond that of his usual uncleanliness, began to arise from him, and the floor of the balcony suddenly became dark with wetness, as he soiled himself in his terror. Edward now raised the book of the Recitation above his head, set it ablaze, and began tearing it to bits, throwing the torn pages over the side of the balcony and down onto the pilgrims below. The crowd screamed and shouted, many falling to the ground on their knees, others covering their eyes or running away from the palace and out of the central square.

Suddenly, Mediel and the rest of the party on guard heard the sound of running feet and fists pounding on doors. Guards!

The Duke, in his guise as spokesman for the heavenly powers, continued his denunciation of the Most Praised One and the creed of Submission. "You have been judged, 'Most Praised One'" he sneered, "and now we, the agents of the heavenly powers, do condemn you in their name to death and damnation for all eternity!" The Most Praised One cried, trying to scream for mercy, and then thrashed violently in a last attempt to escape, but slipped on the puddle of urine that he himself had created, and fell to his knees. Edward and Green Arrow yanked him back to his feet and held his arms down, forcing his head into position. "Die now! Die and burn!" screamed the Duke. He raised aloft the prophet's own sword and brought it down with tremendous force. The head of the Most Praised One was instantly severed from his body. Blood spurted from his neck over the side of the balcony and down onto the crowd, who were now in utter panic and hysteria. The Duke grasped the severed head, stuck it on the tip of the sword, raised above his head, and bellowed, "BEHOLD THE MAN!!!" Edward applied the torch to the corpse of the prophet, setting it instantly ablaze. Firiona concentrated, and the body disappeared, then reappeared high in the air above the crowd of crazed, despairing pilgrims, only to fall speedily onto the mob, killing several of them as it crashed in flaming ruin.

But no sooner had Firiona acted than the doors at the end of the hallway burst open, shattering the wooden beams set to secure them. A large squad of the prophet's own Holy Guard rushed into the hallway, swords, whips and pistols in hand, screaming, not realizing that their prophet was already dead and damned. Mediel and the others quickly realized the time had come to depart this place! They all ran out to the balcony, maddened guards in close pursuit. Just as the guards reached the balcony, the party all joined hands, Firiona concentrated, and suddenly the balcony was empty. The heavenly messengers had returned to their celestial point of origin.