Connects to: 04.31, 08.03, 13.08, 29.14.11 and 29.14.37.
Huddled against the south wall of the City of Shuttered Windows, on land that has been technically part of the grounds of the Grumluda embassy since the unfortunate incident of Doge Montisse and the twenty-six shaven cave bears, one can find the Creche of a Million Young. Almost completely obscured from sight by criss-crossing walkways, the only entrance is a former upper window that is now sunk deem in the mud and that leads down into the halls of this temple.
Inside the Creche of a Million Young, the buzzing of flies almost drowns out the droning of the priests who surround a deep pit, the Creche itself. Within the pit is a vast swarm of insects and other things that creep and crawl. The priests draw these out of the pit and give one to each worshiper who approaches. Some release their gift, others consume it, while others take it home to burn it while composing a prayer or do stranger things. Some worshipers, in a display of devotion, leap down into the pit and sink into the Young.
Until recently the Creche was a marginal temple with a small knot of regular worshipers and a few aging priests. Soon it seemed that there would not be enough funerals to keep the creatures of the pit fed. All of that changed when a strange man, veiled and robed in black, stormed into the temple. When he was challenged by the surprised priests, he cast their leader into the pit and took his place.
The new High Priest claims to be Dormond of the Crooked Oak (04.31) but, as he never removes his veil or cloak, who can say? A supporter of the old High Priest once claimed, before being found in bed with his blood drained dry and the marks of ten thousand mosquitoes on his skin, that he is in fact Ogwyn Egglurs (08.03).
Whoever the High Priest is, he has certainly been active. The Creche now throngs with worshipers, so many that the press of their numbers occasionally knocks one of them into the pit and, while the Creche of a Million Young looks as dingy as ever, its worshipers have established a strong presence in the Undercity. Many still mock the Creche of a Million Young as the “bug pit” but they now make sure to do so quietly or they could end up like Armond Sauvaughn, a proud man who mocked the “bug eaters” but who now refuses to leave the well-netted gondola of his balloon for wherever he goes his very presence draws thousands upon thousands of insects that crawl over his skin with no regard for their own safety.
To his most dedicated followers, the High Priest speaks of the final researches of Severard of the Seven Circles (13.08) and how his final and greatest work was never completed…
Connection:
- Lady Alevari bought some hungry silkworms from the Crech (29.14.37).
Hooks:
- Shaved cave bears? What?
- Just what were Severard’s final researches? What is the High Priest of the Creche of a Million Young planning to do?
- Who is the High Priest anyway? Dormond? Ogwyn? Severard’s lich? Someone else?
- What other practices does this strange bug cult have?