Savages of the Sacred Salvage
You race down the well trodden path to the field full of Bright Gods that is the center of your tribe's encampment, and the Pavilion on the other side of it. But the priest and shamaness there can tell you only that several young men took the Oath today, far more than the usual amount. And as Chameek had nothing extraordinary about him except for a wearisome intensity of nature and a penchant for making dramatic gestures--a trait unfortunately shared by many young Oath takers--they can't tell you for sure whether he was among them just by your description.
"Ah, the locusts' claws should be shaking! I wish I only wish I had so many men hunting me!" chortles the hunchbacked old shamaness.
"Er, but sorry about your son," says the priest. "But certain of our tribe's youths have always been just....you know."
"Stupid?"
"I was just going to say very determined and unswayed by reason." He pauses, clearing his throat. "And as I can see that you're just as stubborn and would try to prevent him from this holy task, I'm afraid I can't tell you which way the group went."
Muttering curses under your breath you hurry back outside, looking this way and that. The demon locusts are always attracted to Bright Gods, seeking to steal the magic and wishes of the people or even destroy the gods themselves. At a glance it's obvious the ones in the field next to the Pavilion are safe and untroubled, but if you were foolish and suicidal enough to seek out Hell, there's obviously two other places you'd think of next.
There are a collection of Bright Gods frequently menaced and destroyed by the more powerful locusts, sheltered by a temple within the no man's land between the tribes referred to as the God Maze. This is difficult terrain to traverse, and it may be that traveling alone gives you an advantage over a group, who would have to climb steep walls and slip through narrow places one at a time. If Chameek is with the Oath takers and they go that way, you should be able to catch up.
The other place you can always find the forces of Hell would be in the hills directly to the south of here. The spinning worm demons there are small, not the kind that ever threaten gods and not especially prestigious to fight, but if one was looking for many blue fire entrances to Hell at once and not too particular about anything else, that would be the place.
"Ah, the locusts' claws should be shaking! I wish I only wish I had so many men hunting me!" chortles the hunchbacked old shamaness.
"Er, but sorry about your son," says the priest. "But certain of our tribe's youths have always been just....you know."
"Stupid?"
"I was just going to say very determined and unswayed by reason." He pauses, clearing his throat. "And as I can see that you're just as stubborn and would try to prevent him from this holy task, I'm afraid I can't tell you which way the group went."
Muttering curses under your breath you hurry back outside, looking this way and that. The demon locusts are always attracted to Bright Gods, seeking to steal the magic and wishes of the people or even destroy the gods themselves. At a glance it's obvious the ones in the field next to the Pavilion are safe and untroubled, but if you were foolish and suicidal enough to seek out Hell, there's obviously two other places you'd think of next.
There are a collection of Bright Gods frequently menaced and destroyed by the more powerful locusts, sheltered by a temple within the no man's land between the tribes referred to as the God Maze. This is difficult terrain to traverse, and it may be that traveling alone gives you an advantage over a group, who would have to climb steep walls and slip through narrow places one at a time. If Chameek is with the Oath takers and they go that way, you should be able to catch up.
The other place you can always find the forces of Hell would be in the hills directly to the south of here. The spinning worm demons there are small, not the kind that ever threaten gods and not especially prestigious to fight, but if one was looking for many blue fire entrances to Hell at once and not too particular about anything else, that would be the place.