The Last Demi-god

Then

Te-Tetch's mother was the amorous goddess Lshenk'a, his father a plain village blacksmith. Lshenk'a was known far and wide for mothering countless offspring with countless unsuspecting, and sometimes even uncooperative mortals. One year after the Blacksmith was 'honored' by Lshenk'a with a midnight visit, the man found a big, mewling baby on the doorstep of his smithy.

Raised by his father at first, by the time Te-Tetch was eight years old he was well over six feet in height and weighed ten stone. His prodigious size and strength was at first celebrated by the villagers, but soon the half-god's nature became all too apparent. Te-Tech was stupid, brutish, and cruel. When he killed two fellow children with his bare fists after a minor argument over toys, a mob drove off the half-god abomination into the tundra, but not before a score of villagers was killed by Te-Tetch as he raged. The half-god took to wandering the vast northlands, occasionally ingratiating himself into other communities, but always his temper would get the best of him, and he would snap, causing some sort of irreparable harm. It is said that eventually Te-Tetch was driven from the tundra and primeval forests of the Ryyvan Krus, even farther north, into the unending frozen wasteland that has no name.

But that is an old story, that many no longer even believe. Half a millennium has passed since the old gods (Lshenk'a among them) have been forsaken for the One True Faith. And as all know, once old gods are forgotten, they fall into comatose slumber from which they almost never wake. As for the many earthbound half-gods, the One True Faith hunted them down mercilessly with priests and heroes and sorcerers, over the course of a mere half-century. For four hundred and fifty years now, the age of 'gods walking the earth' was over.

Well, except for the petulant brute, Te-Tetch. The wretch survived somewhere amidst the unforgiving ice of the far north, already forgotten by the time the Hammers of the One True Faith began to hunt down his brethren to extinction.

Now

The timbered town of Muldumarec is getting ready to celebrate the Holy Week of Midwinter, when the PCs pass through, looking for a cozy place to spend the harsh winter themselves. Muldumarec, with its quaint red-roofed wooden houses, and winding, slush-ridden streets seems a good a place as any. Besides, towns and cities are few and far-flung amidst the vast hinterlands of the Ryyvan Krus.

Preparations are under way for the week-long religious festivities. Even a Hammer of the One True Faith is present, having traveled here many leagues from the south, to help with overall morale, drum up holy fervor, and show the people of Muldumarec that the Faith is always with them.

On their second day, the PCs are approached inside the cozy confines of the Besotted Bee (which serves the finest honey-mead in all the lands of the Ryyvan Krus), by a town elder and two underlings.

The elderman asks the PCs (who are not unknown, even in these parts, due to all of their past 'adventures'), to accompany him to the mayor's manse. He explains that the town of Muldumarec and even the One True Faith itself is seeking very brave and very able sorts, but will say no more.

When they arrive at the mayor's manse, Mlenka Marmarin, a Hammer of the One True Faith is present. Also present is the mayor of Muldumarec, Kleb Gezbalov, and the local high-priest of the Faith, Duspan Bilyon.

The mayor welcomes the PCs and sings their praises, having heard of their deeds. He then turns solemn and explains the current crisis, yet unknown to the public at large. Apparently the high-priest, Duspan, had a nightmare a week ago. In it he dreamt vividly that the 'Source' of the One True Faith was greatly displeased. He saw visions of a coven of witches. He saw visions of the Faith's holy symbol shattered. He saw a massive, unrelenting ice storm sweeping through Muldumarec, burying the town in a half-mile of snow. And he saw a great, white, naked giant raging down from the north, amidst the epic storm killing and destroying everything in his path that the storm did not. All the visions shared a sliver of a crescent Moon in the bleak sky above. That Moon was due in twelve days.

Needless to say, Duspan Bilyon was no novice at translating dreams and visions, yet even he sought council with others out of sheer fright, one such other being the visiting Hammer of the Faith, Mlenka Marmarin.

The two thought long and hard together, read for hours from the Birch-skin Chronicle, and finally discovered the holy message in the high-priest's nightmare.

One of the half-gods of old yet lived. An abomination begat of Lshenk'a, a fox-headed goddess from the time of the Old Ways. Five hundred years ago, the brood-beast had escaped the 'Faith-Purge' due to its habitat. The farthest northern reaches where no sane person traveled to or through, was its home. But now, the pair further divined, the half-god was being summoned south by some hidden cabal of conspirators who long for the Old Ways and decry the One True Faith. The 'storm' would come in twelve days, Duspan and Mlenka surmise, unless the prophetic vision is thwarted of course.

Eventually the conversation gets around to the meat of the matter. Mlenka Marmarin exclaims her intents. She will travel north immediately and seek out the beast to slay. There is no other choice. Finding and extinguishing the hidden cabal instead would take too long. The frozen waste-lands expanse where this 'Te-Tetch' laired, began a mere thirty leagues north of Muldumarec. The magic sword at Mlenka's waist would sense the half-god from there. The high-priest Duspan asks the PCs boldly for their help. He asks them to accompany Mlenka to slay this misbegotten creature of a bygone age. Mlenka herself is too proud to ask for assistance, but she will gladly accept the PCs as comrades. The mayor of Muldumarec further entices the PCs with promises of material 'gifts' for their help. It would take too long for other Hammers of the Faith to arrive. It was up to Mlenka now and the PCs to save the town and the Faith itself.

Part 2, “Off to slay the Half-god” coming soon.