Session 29 - The Lottery

When the party first enters Luzhinsk, they follow the recommendations of Naum's sons to stay the night at one of their relatives' homes, which provides their barn for the wolverine, and the rest of the party. The party then decides to split up to explore the city, specifically, Vladimir is sent to find two things; a place to heal Vadim's injury and a place for the party to stay for a few weeks.   The rest of the party go shopping, looking for armors, weapons, and other gear they hope to purchase from Ahmed - a foreign blacksmith. Hrefna makes connections with them, sharing the language, and in addition to the gear purchased, the blacksmith recommends some of their connections to the party.   These familial connections offer to sell them other gear, and provide a place to rest and keep the wolverine for an extended period. However, in the meantime, Vladimir has managed to head into the center of town, where the main pagan shrine stands. He speaks to some of the people there wearing white robes, and an individual who is a priestess of Mokosh , hoping to meet with the head volkhv. The priestess of Mokosh mention a ritualistic and fair human sacrifice is being conducted to gain the favor of the goddess, and warns that foreigners like Vladimir might want to leave. Vladimir partially explains why the party is here, and when he mentions to Chvalibog - the head priest, who happens to be the Prince's brother, that a daughter of the Raven court has come to visit, the head priest insists on meeting with the party.   Vladimir returns, explains this information to the group, and the group decides to stick around. The party intended to send off the sons of Naum, but Hrefna paid them to stick around town for a week in case the party needed them.   They next day, the party goes shopping, and of course, the head volkhv sees them and approaches. Vladimir introduces everyone, and the party is conscripted to get confirmation of everyone in the city who will participate in the lottery for the sacrifice.   Vladimir does his job mostly with unbiased efficiency, Vasilii looks into the moral ambiguity of the process, and both Vadim and Hrefna decline to participate. Everyone in the party is properly marked as belonging to another prince or group, except Vladimir, so he also ends up participating in the drawing. Vladimir does also end up taking a bribe, at Vasilii's request, for Makarios - a Gaalite merchant.   When the stones are being drawn, so many white stones are drawn that there are whispers amongst the crowd that there isn't any black stones in the draw, so no one need be sacrificed. However, the Prince is the last to draw a stone, and draws a black stone, marking him as the sacrifice.