Session 31 - The Sacrifice

The party had a long discussion about whether to assassinate the Prince's uncle. Vasilii is opposed to the assassination idea. The group agrees not to move forward with an assassination attempt. Vasilii and Hrefna decide to go to the sacrifice, and Vasilii casts an augury to see if this sacrifice is the will of the gods. The results were a vague/ambiguous “Yes”.   Vadim and Vladimir confer on their own and decide to try and assassinate the Prince’s uncle. Vadim’s approach is unsubtle; he approaches the river crowd of spectators wearing armor and carrying a bow and quiver. This attracts the attention of the guards who insist that he moves away. Vadim moves a bit, but not sufficiently. He marks the uncle uncle, fires an arrow, and misses. Vadim flees and the guards give chase, their swords bursting into flame.Vadim makes book to get away from the guards. He enters a hut in which several artisans take one look at him and cower, in spite of him reassuring them that he will not harm them if they do not cry out. The city guards with flaming swords – the Sons of Dazhbog – pursue for a bit, but break off and head back to the crowd by the river when the Prince cries out “Guards, to me!”. Vadim eventually departs the hut, leaving some treasure with the artisans as thanks.   Vladimir hides against the palisade of the citadel, casts a sleep spell and puts one of the guards on the boat where the old prince is wrapped in a net. He then hypnotizes the other people on the boat, and calls on the young prince to toss his uncle into the river. The spectators see a tentacled frog-like creature rise from the river and eat the uncle... sloppily... and then the creature goes back under the river.He then raises up his father’s hand and his father recognizes him as the true heir.   The Young Prince invites the group back to the palace and asks them what rewards they would like. Vadim for his part requests a weapon that is good against shapeshifters and the undead. The Prince indicates that the armory of the Sons of Dazbog has such weapons, and proffers a sword to Vadim, telling him that he will need to figure out the words to command it. Vadim says “Flame on!” and the sword ignites.   Vladimir asked for the Prince to agree to a friendly meeting with a messenger from Rurik. He also.spends quality time with a female volkhva, who questions him about the lottery and whether he fixed it. Vladimir admits that he helped some Gaalites evade participation in the lottery.   Hrefna talks to the same priestess, who reveals that the Rada released Koshchei the Deathless into the world; Koshchei took Mokosh away. Hrefna asks for magic that is useful against the dead, but ends up settling for the services of the prince's matchmaker, who is to write and deliver a letter about her good character to the Raven Tsar, because she's still hung up on Miroslav. Despite the fact that she has lost him because of the curse, she still turns away the Prince's attention.   Vasilii, upset at being betrayed, goes out to the forest outside the city to meditate.