Quoted By:
The icon is not exactly the same as the image of the Magna Mater that you found in Portsmaw, but it’s uncannily close. That idol had the air of a truly ancient thing, worn and dirtied by long years of worship, while this thing seems to have been carved somewhat recently – though there are still a few stains darkening the very bottom of it, which you try not to think too hard about.
“Do you know the name “Black Wanderers” at all?” you ask quietly, your gaze still fixed upon the idol, “Something your father might have mentioned, perhaps?”
“You might be overestimating the extend to which we have polite conversation,” Juno replies, “No, I don’t know the term. What does it mean?”
“They were… are… a very nasty group of people. A Galsean cult, really. They worshipped the Magna Mater, and believed that they could draw her gaze with acts of sacrifice – offerings of blood and terror,” you hesitate, unsure how much to tell Juno. But then, you think, she might be the best person to talk with. “There may be some… truth to those beliefs,” you continue slowly, “Sometimes, the Magna Mater would send a part of itself – an Emanation, of sorts – in response to their worship.”
Juno’s expression show nothing more than an idle curiosity. “To what end?” she asks, “I mean, what would this emissary actually do?”
“It would… lie with the worshippers,” you clear your throat, “It would give them a child, a cursed child with the taint of divinity in their blood.”
“There are easier ways, I’m sure, to get a woman,” Juno muses, then shakes her head, “Well, that’s not the point. What WAS your point?”
“I encountered the group in Portsmaw, where they offered sacrifices to an idol like this one. We broke up the cult, but their leader managed to escape custody. We weren’t able to track him down afterwards,” you explain, gesturing back to the idol, “Now I find this here, and your father has rogue Galseans skulking in his forest. I don’t see that as a coincidence.”
Juno doesn’t reply to this straight away. Instead, she crouches down by the base of the idol and peers at the dark stains before following a faint trail with her light. “This way,” she murmurs, voice dropping low, “Let’s see if we can find your missing villain.”
It might not be much, but you suppose that following even a dubious trail is better than just wandering randomly. “There’s something else,” you continue as you walk.
“There’s always something else with you, isn’t there?”
“I have reason to believe that, some years ago, my father may also have drawn the Mater’s eye,” you reply, “Inadvertently, of course.”
Juno stops, looking back at you as she weighs up your words. Rather than recoil in horror, as you thought she might, she studies you with wide, fascinated eyes.
“Then…” she muses, “That would make you-”
“That’s right,” you nod.
[1/2]
