The City of the Specter, Atem's Palace

[metagame]

The corpse sinks to the floor
Even the brightest gold, even the sharpest blade
Becomes sand, becomes dust

Comments

[metagame]

It's time to reconvene! All roads lead to the palace, so eventually you find yourselves in front of the palace's large gates with nowhere else to go.

You may as well share with the others what you've overheard, you bunch of eavesdroppers.

[prozaic]

To start with... A Pharaoh is the intermediary between humans and the divine. [Then he gives Argenti a nod. He's clarifying now!] A religious leader, you could say. Many of the fishermen speak about such a person.

[But he'll let Argenti tell that bit.]

I am willing to believe that this is Atem's realm. [And this place shows he's under way more pressure than he told Shalem.] He taught me the word, and shared that he does have such a responsibility. It's not my story to share, but I shall ask for forgiveness later.

[beautifulknight]

[ Ah... ]

I appreciate the clarification, my new companion. Hopefully he will be understanding, considering the circumstances.

[ Argenti thinks it helps by a lot, so! Anyway. ]

The Fishermen were speaking about how they were having much trouble with the current state of things due to the Lord of the River being angry. Apparently it has been affecting how well their catches have been, and I have reason to believe that this is a main method to sustain their livelihoods...

Such as it is, they speak of Atem - the Pharaoh - as failing in his duties and having been insolent to this Lord. They stated that the Pharoah must make sure to travel to the Black River for daily offerings alongside praying for forgiveness to every temple's God in every single village...then, finally fasting to show his true dedication to the Gods.

If this is, perhaps, an indication of how his state of mind is, then it seems Atem may believe that he has been seen as sorely lacking, to start with.

[ Beyond of course other issues he is certain they must untangle alongside the messiness that may be Atem's past. ]

[prozaic]

He finds his responsibilities heavy. [Which is a light way of saying that he's really struggling with his shit. But Shalem doesn't want to encroach on Atem's personal business more, especially when he knows he told Shalem all of this in confidence. That's why he's tiptoeing through his words.]

And who could blame him? He is responsible for an entire nation, not just a single city.

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti frowns at hearing this...he does not ever envy a ruler's position nor how heavy their crown must feel. ]

...The burden of his responsibilities, and not being able to meet them.

Regardless, we shall let him know that he can have others to lean on if his troubles are heavy. While it is true he must have been alone in facing them before, the time has changed now, has it not?

[privatedomicile]

Damn...this is why I never went into politics.

[He has never thought of going into politics in his entire life.]

So maybe we gotta go kick the Lord of the River's ass?

[beautifulknight]

[ HELP

Argenti can't ever imagine going into politics either, to be fair. ]

Perhaps so.

Or other elements of Atem's psyche. We have just started out, so it may be that we have only just begun to scratch the surface...

[pointzeropercent]

[Sou has lost his sweatshirt and has gained a linen tunic. He is just carrying it right now, he hasn't changed yet.]

The people here are very friendly. It doesn't seem like they're hostile to outsiders.

[privatedomicile]

Yeah, the dude I talked to was pretty chill about a complete stranger askin' about his kingdom. Guess they ain't fightin' any wars or whatever right now?

[emptyself]

The baboons are not.

[ soujuurou's just going to. add that. ]

[pointzeropercent]

Did you punch 'em?

[Sou will never let that punch go.]

[emptyself]

No. Why would I do that to an animal that I know nothing about?

[privatedomicile]

[Hey, guys, how's it going?]

Yo, so guess we're in some city. The Pharaoh's chillin' in the Great House. Probably where we'll find the problem we gotta solve?

[townmusician]

Well, yeah. If this is Atem's palace, then we gotta find him, and it sure as hell seems like the Great House is super sus right now.

[moodwrecker]

Some of the mothers were gossiping about how their daughter hadn't been home from working at the palace for weeks, even if the wages were good. Others were saying the fish aren't biting, the fields aren't yielding, and there's nothing to bake for food - so they're worried about making it through the flooding season.

[townmusician]

...And they all think that's because the Pharaoh isn't doing his job right? Seems kind of... harsh.

[moodwrecker]

I guess so? It's not like I talked to them myself.

[chimken]

Isn't Atem a little young? Being a king is hard but even harder when you haven't had a full life of experience to draw from.... [ Falin looks worried. ]

[moodwrecker]

[...Blinking,]

I don't know. Is he?

[townmusician]

Well, he's short, but that doesn't mean much...

[ledbythewind]

[Haha. Hahahaha...]

[strawsandals]

We aren't going to be able to march through the gates, but apparently, there's another way in. Seems like the people managing to get in are doing so through the river docks...serving food meant for no one but the servants and greater priests inside the palace.

[ Just so they have an idea of what they're up against. Maybe. ]

[chimken]

The river docks...did you happen to hear of other locations? Wouldn't that be sneaking in?

[ Falin wasn't sure on a sneaking in approach but it also wasn't what she was used to. ]

[strawsandals]

I didn't, but yes, that seems like something we'll have to do...

[ Wouldn't be the first time for him, though. ]

[ledbythewind]

The guards mentioned that neither the Pharaoh nor the greater priests have been giving offerings to the Gods for quite some time now. They found it odd because according to them, there's been more than enough food coming in from the north, yet it doesn't seem to be going to either the temples or the villages.