ZEITGEIST [ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.

Session 33, Part Two

The Crucible

Grizzled eladrin veterans waged a guerrilla campaign against the clergy from a translocating pocket plane on the isthmus they called the Crucible. Strategically, this was ill-advised – the clergy had already advanced hundreds of miles to the east. But for the fey-minded eladrin, surrender of the isthmus was an anaethma, and so they continued to harry the Crisillyiri colonists, while constantly evading capture. Outside events were of little interest to these men, but they had heard of the coup in Ushanti, and were only too happy to help Kasvarina. And so they set aside any demands for assistance and introduced Gupta to the priests of Sarasvati. These strange priests seemed both young and old – white-haired and frail, but with smooth, unblemished almost radiant skin. They told Gupta that if her contrition was sufficient, Sarasvati would answer her prayer and draw away some of her own life force to revive Helandra. The ritual was a long one, but it ended in success: Helandra woke and struggled against the confines of her binding. She was very confused and Gupta took her aside to explain what had happened.

Her account was an honest one, sparing no details. To her surprise, when she was done, Helandra threw back her head and gave a great guffaw. She forgave Gupta instantly, and seemed hugely entertained by the whole idea. Gupta was taken aback and sought to establish if Helandra nursed some unspoken grievance, but Helandra said that since she was alive again, the incident had cost her nothing but her dress and that was easily replaced. She needed no help to return to Sentosa, she said. She was quite able to find her own way. Gupta was very grateful, and Kasvarina seemed especially happy with the outcome. No doubt, she said, but the Unseen Court would hear of this and, together with the coup in Ushanti, it would stand the unit in good stead in future dealings with the fey.

Now Kasvarina was keen to ignore Korrigan’s orders and continue her search for memories outside the pocket plane. Uriel was equally reckless in pursuit of his origins and together they persuaded the others to step outside.

Rolling hills and farmland dominated what must once have been Elfaivaran jungle. Kasvarina wove a seeming ritual that allowed them to pass in the disguise of simple peasants. Kasvarina donned the Arc and found that there were no significant memories close by, much to her disappointment. Uriel, meanwhile, felt a pull to the east and soon discovered the site of Talmai’s incarnation in what was then eladrin-held jungle. The Arc was now drawing him westwards.

To save time, and heedless of the attention it would draw, they all piled into Rumdoom’s clockwork carriage and headed for Vendricce.

Casus Belli

“Friends of yours?” asked Pemberton.

Noises off: over cries of alarm from the patrons of the Rat, they heard the distant sounds of artillery and, closer, shouts and the heavy fall of many boots. Alarm bells began to ring. It sounded as if Macdam itself was being invaded!

Leon decided that discretion was the better part of valour, but his teleport spell fizzled out. There was a dimension lock on the area; this was a concerted ambush indeed!

Two more soldiers had risen from a nearby table and now drew pistols at Leon and Korrigan. They were cut down by a rain of shuriken from the ceiling.

At once, half a dozen carbines sounded from the doorways. None of them hit their intended targets, but a number of bystanders were caught in the crossfire and panic erupted in the lounge.

“I take it that these gentlemen are Obscurati?” said Pemberton. Korrigan confirmed that they were. “Hold on a second,” said Pemberton, and his prototype duplicant slumped forward, abandoned.

Korrigan ordered a retreat towards the stairs. Leon turned invisible and did as he was told, as did Uru, slipping back into the shadows as he went, then turning and firing again with his shuriken crossbow, felling more porteurs. Korrigan had a sudden notion that delayed his own retreat, as he tried to pick up the duplicant and bring it with them. It was far too heavy and unwieldy and he gave up on the idea, but it was too late:

With an almighty roar, the windows imploded in a hail of gunfire from outside, filling the whole saloon with a maelstrom of broken glass and bullets. Leon was already halfway up the stairs; Uru dropped to the ground as bullets whizzed overhead; Korrigan ploughed through scattered furniture using upended tables for cover.

Uru scampered up the stairs after Leon and they dashed into a vacant bedroom to peek out of an upstairs window. A whole squadron of Danoran troops had surrounded the building! Half of them now opened fire again and this time Korrigan was caught in the fusillade, though he stoically absorbed the kinetic energy of most of the attack, before stomping up the stairs to join the others.

The Danoran troop now realised their targets were no longer on the ground floor, but when they fired through the upstairs windows, their bullets bounced of Uru’s latest trick: a black force-field, erected by Little Jack, comprised of negative energy from the Bleak Gate, and large enough to shield all of them. Thus protected, they hastily discussed their options. Footsteps were drawing near as the soldiers stormed the building.

Shrugging off the compromise to his dignity, Korrigan allowed them to place him in the absurdist web, whereupon Uru and Leon slipped silently out of an upstairs window and escaped over the rooftops. In the distance, they could see a smoking building – a barracks destroyed by the concentrated fire of two Danoran frigates in the harbour. This was an audacious move by the porteurs, and could only have been sanctioned by the Sovereign himself. Uru wondered if they should stay and fight off the incursion, but Korrigan said they could not take care of every problem themselves. In any case, the porteurs would not escape unopposed:

Further up the slopes surrounding Macdam harbour, another loud explosion drew their gaze. Two enormous golems crashed out of a warehouse without pausing to open the huge, locked wooden doors. This was Pemberton’s mothballed factory, and these golems were his. At once, they opened fire on the invaders with integrated cannon, which they were able to reload from a magazine on their hip. Their attack was so unexpected and so devastating that it caused the Danorans to beat a hasty retreat towards the docks, pursued all the way by the enormous constructs.

Once they had moved far enough to be free of the dimension lock, Leon ‘ported them back to the edge of town and then used follow the voice to rejoin the rest of the unit.

Vendricce

Ken Don had a lot of information for Uriel: In 170 AOV, a powerful deva, Cardinal Tadeo had been assassinated in Vendricce. His reincarnation was not located, but fifty years later, when a Seedist deva priest was slain near the Perpetual City, he was identified as the lost soul of Cardinal Tadeo and returned to Crissilyir. He took the name of Jannick, trained as a Templar, and took part in a crusade against the dragon tyrants in 300 AOV, where he too was lost near modern-day Seobriga. Cardinal Tadeo was known to be the reincarnation of a famous healer named Tadeas who lived in Alais Primos from 17-110. Uriel was overwhelmed.

Once the unit was reunited they headed into Vendricce. They needed to be careful here. While the clergy were not openly hostile to Risur, they knew that the Ob had gained substantial foothold in its ranks, and the last time they were here, they fled capture with the sound of golden bells ringing in their ears. It would be best not to draw too much attention.

Sadly, this was not to prove possible. The Arc drew Uriel to an open cathedral-palace. Entry was no issue, but moving beyond the public areas to the private suites beyond had to be done with real brio. Korrigan gave orders; Gupta muttered subtle charms; Leon smoothed things over. So far so good – everything seemed reasonable to the modern-day occupants, until Uriel stepped out onto a balcony overlooking a wide, busy plaza, which was suddenly filled by rows and rows of armed clergy troops, whom Cardinal Tadeo now addressed – filling them with righteous ire for their forthcoming progrom in Elfaivar. Needless to say this very shocking, public manifestation could only draw the attention of the authorities, and quickly too.

Korrigan and Gupta dealt with the immediate problem, of cathedral high-ups who demanded an explanation. They introduced the reincarnation of Cardinal Tadeo and demanded access to his private chambers.

Here they witnessed more memory events:

In one Tadeo was speaking with none other than Vicemi Terio, who was very much alive, but clearly unwell. “Is it necessary that I pursue this holy war with such tenacity?” Tadeo asked him. “Surely it is counter to our best interests?” Vicemi growled, “He wants the pressure kept up on the eladrin. Otherwise she might break ranks.” He began to cough uncontrollably. Tadeo expressed sympathy and offered a cure which Vicemi stubbornly rejected: “I need no help from the divine. If nature means for me to waste away then let it be so.”

This memory segued into a later event, another discussion with another, unknown person. In this memory, Tadeo was angry and refusing to follow orders. “Tell him I know what they did! I went to the island and I found out for myself. I’ll do his bidding no longer!” The stranger said patiently, “Our master has a sentimental attachment to you that the rest of us do not share. If you openly oppose us, you will be dealt with.” Tadeo gave an outraged roar of defiance as the memory faded.

Then, in a still more secluded chamber, Cardinal Tadeo’s silent prayer was disturbed by movement in the shadows. A poison dagger struck him squarely between the shoulder blades. He turned to face his Vekeshi assassin. “It is as it should be,” he said, before he died.

With Rumdoom’s help, Uriel did not share Tadeo’s fate. Instead he rose and strode proudly from the building, possessed for a while by the Cardinal’s demeanour. Flabbergasted clergy scrambled to obey his orders, before he and the unit left the building and slipped away into the night.

To further throw off pursuit, rather than trying to make it to Alais Primos, they instead teleported to the Impossible in Seobriga. On arrival, Korrigan’s first concern was to pen a sending to Sovereign Han Jierre.

“Don’t you have to know the recipient personally?” asked Kasvarina in surprise.

“I do know the Sovereign,” said Korrigan. “I have engaged him in conversation and shaken his hand on at least two occasions.”

The purport of the sending was simply this:

“Flattered by the attention, but think you should save resources and lives.”

There was no response. At least, not immediately…

Boom?

Tormyr said:

Boom?

Click to expand...

Que?

gideonpepys said:

Que?

Click to expand...

I was wondering if an explosion was the upcoming response from Danor. I reread the post and guess I got too far ahead of myself.

Session 34 - Part One

Tormyr said:

Boom?

Click to expand...

BOOOM!

An almighty crash awoke them in the dead of night. Each struggled to figure out what on earth had caused it: Leon was almost thrown out of his berth; Uru – up in the crow’s nest – looked down to see a dark shape in the water alongside the Impossible; Korrigan reached for his defender longsword and realised Matunaaga was in trouble; Rumdoom had to be shaken awake by Hildegaard.

Matunaaga was badly injured and pinned to the floor of his cabin by an enormous metal structure that had crashed through the hull. He could hear the pounding of heavy footfalls and he struggled to free himself before they reached him. He centred himself and used Zuoken’s Centring to boost his physical strength with the power of his mind.

Leon teleported onto the main deck but found it empty; Uru leapt from the crow’s nest and landed on the gunwale. There was an enormous submersible in the water. Two boarding ramprows in the shape of tiefling horns had pierced the hull at the level of their quarters, and a dozen porteurs de mort were charging through the breach. Korrigan reached the passageway in time to see them muster in the container hold, but before they could charge him, or take aim, Rumdoom burst out of his cabin, wielding his mordenkrad, but no armour. The porteurs mobbed him. Matunaaga, having only just managed to win free found himself fighting hand-to-hand in the confines of his cabin.

These were hard-bitten men and tieflings, the elite of the elite – grizzled and combat-ready. Their express intention was to take out one or more of the unit in direct response to Korrigan’s sending. “Greetings from the Sovereign,” one of them declared, hurling a strange grenade.

They were well-equipped, their weapons filled with anti-magic shrapnel; they had shotguns, six-shooter carbines and a variety of magical ammunition: they blocked off the approach of other crew members with webs and focused all their fire on the unit.

But circumstances were not on the porteurs side. The ‘weaker’ members of the unit were nowhere to be found, and with Rumdoom barring their way, they could not get at anyone else. At one point, though, even Rumdoom began to falter, but Korrigan shielded him behind a stone wall for long enough for him to heal up and summon his ice armour. This done, he was practically invulnerable. It seemed like he was enjoying himself. Meanwhile, Uru picked off the porteurs one by one (dropping down onto the ramprow and attacking from behind) and Matunaaga defeated the three in his cabin. Leon harried them too, and parried their bullets with his dreaming blade and the martial technique he had learned from the eladrin. Early on, Rutger Smith emerged, pistol in hand, but Korrigan stopped him with a gesture and said, “Let us handle this.”

Still, this was not an easy fight, and it was some time before it was clear who would win. But once over half of their number had been slain, the porteurs withdrew. Their submersible had already pulled away – they threw themselves out of the holes in the hull, and made off across the water, buoyed by a ritual.

Korrigan sent to Han Jierre again: “Thanks for the message. I regret to say that the messengers ran away before I could give them my reply.”

This whole episode was inspired by Tormyr's earlier post, without which I would not have reflected on the fact that this would be a nice, dramatic moment to have a concerted attack against the unit. I really beefed up the porteurs, making the squad on the submarine the elite of the elite, boosted by potions and rituals. Having the attack come at night on board ship added some variety (the characters weren't awake or equipped), but it soon became apparent that the marines stood no chance of making a kill. It was fun though!

Free Publicity

Gupta, Uriel and Kasvarina had spent the evening at the mansion house shared by Melissa Amerie and her coterie of intellectuals, including Ludoso Alleron and Roderigo Anthrasio. They had slipped ashore under cover of Kasvarina’s seeming ritual shortly after their arrival on the Impossible. And so they weren’t on board when the porteurs attacked, which is probably best. Kieran Sentacore went with them. Despite his earlier reservations about the unit, he had come to the conclusion that the Lost Arc provided a unique opportunity for a historian to revisit events of huge significance, and had requested that he be allow to follow them, at least for the time being. For the moment, though, they had left the Arc with Korrigan, cautious of igniting a diplomatic incident. Their intention was to liaise with the Beran authorities before unleashing any memory events on central Seobriga.

To that end, they had invited Glaucia Evoria to Melissa’s house. It was a sign of his continued faith in Gupta that Korrigan allowed her to handle this negotiation without him. Glaucia was openly suspicious of Kasvarina but decided to permit the unit to use the Arc within the confines of the city, as long as the citizens were kept safe. It was put to her that this would best be achieved by making the events public, and having guards or soldiers (or executores) on hand to control the crowds. This meshed nicely with Melissa’s ambition to publicise her ongoing serialisation of the unit’s adventures. (She talked later about ‘going back to the very beginning’, once her series about their exploits in Ber was done, with their permission and input, of course.)

Once dinner was over and Glaucia had gone, the visitors left to find a secluded spot on the outskirts of the city where Gupta could safely transform. Kasvarina came along too, fascinated; Kieran Sentacore was nervous but didn’t have much choice. Once again, Gupta made her transformation within the safety of a warding circle, and was provided with another goat to eat. Three nights down; two to go.

gideonpepys said:

BOOOM!

*snip*

Korrigan sent to Han Jierre again: “Thanks for the message. I regret to say that the messengers ran away before I could give them my reply.”

This whole episode was inspired by Tormyr's earlier post, without which I would not have reflected on the fact that this would be a nice, dramatic moment to have a concerted attack against the unit. I really beefed up the porteurs, making the squad on the submarine the elite of the elite, boosted by potions and rituals. Having the attack come at night on board ship added some variety (the characters weren't awake or equipped), but it soon became apparent that the marines stood no chance of making a kill. It was fun though!

*snip*

Click to expand...

Hey, I rewrote the future!

Oh, the folks of Seobriga are going to get quite a show.

Session 34, Part Two - A Brace of Memory Dragons

And so it was that huge, excitable crowds were on hand to witness what Glaucia would go on to describe as “a helpful reinforcement of state narratives”. Many of the onlookers were merely curious but some were real unit fans. Many children were dressed in costume as their favourite character, and Rumdoom was introduced to a cadre of orc warriors, some of whom had been present at the Summer Palace when he survived unscathed the blast of a bomb that had almost killed both the Bruse and Korrigan (and had killed half a dozen bystanders, including Gupta). These orcs were huge fans, and Rumdoom shared with them some of the basic tenets of Rumschatology.

It took a great deal of effort to control these crowds when the first memory event began:

In the streets of Seobriga, Kasvarina is running for a building, followed by Sor Daeron, the matriarch Latika, and a handful of horribly burnt eladrin soldiers. Kasvarina hears the beating of wings and looks up, the whites of her eyes reflecting firelight from the city burning around her. She whispers, “Not again.”

Landing on a perch atop an elaborately-spired building, a dragon the color of day-old blood, with a body larger than an elephants, holds Kasvarina’s daughter Launga pinned to the roof with a foreclaw.

“Please no!” Kasvarina shouts. “Just ask, and I’ll give you anything you want.”

The dragon rears and huffs a flaming laugh. Then a hand formed from salt crystals grasps her by the back of her neck, and a blade pokes her back. Sor Daeron and Latika have revealed their betrayal, and Sor explains that they know. It took them a century to find out,, but now they know. And so it wasn’t just enough to kill Kasvarina. They had to make her lose all she cared for.

Kasvarina breaks away from Sor and despite taking a dagger to her kidney she tries to teleport up to her daughter. Her spell finishes but nothing happens, because the streets have been paved with gold, blocking her teleportation.

Latika waves to the dragon Rilego, who draws a deep breath. Kasvarina screams and runs for the entrance to the building the dragon’s perched on, and Latika orders Sor after her. Kasvarina just manages to get inside when the entire building shakes and radiative heat cracks bricks and sets the air ashimmer. Though she knows her daughter is already dead, Kasvarina runs for the stairs to the roof. She gets halfway up when Sor blocks her path with a wall of force.

The two duel with sword and spells for nearly a minute, but Kasvarina pulls loose, burning debris onto him with godfire. She casts a flight spell, but when she clears the skylight, the entire roof is aflame, and the structure is compromised. Protected from the heat by magic she runs and finds her daughter Launga’s corpse. When she picks her up, her face is blackened on one half, nearly pristine on the other.

In the street below, Rilego has landed and Latika is climbing aboard his back. She and Kasvarina lock eyes. Still holding her dead daughter, Kasvarina starts to cast, but she does not aim at Latika or the dragon. Rather, she fires a lightning blade directly down into the building to fin­ish off Sor Daeron, and the energy is enough to shatter wooden supports. The whole burning structure implodes beneath her, and she remains hovering in the air, implacable.

(Kasvarina assumed Sor Daeron died in the building collapse. But the unit witnessed the scene from another perspective, and spotted Sor Daeron stumbling out of the door just as the building collapsed, then fleeing through the dust and smoke.)

Rilego takes to the air and strafes with claws while Latika tries to strip away Kasvarina’s flight with dispel magic. Kasvarina survives, watches them turn for another pass, and casts unrelenting geas, miraculously managing to affect Rilego. She says, “Drop her and let her burn, then fly away.”

Latika falls into the burning rubble and Kasvarina finishes her off.

She would returned days later to track down Rilego and slay him as well. This incredible encounter was played out just moments after the first memory event finished and was received with rapture by the ecstatic crowds. The unit and Glacuia’s executors worked tirelessly to keep them out of harm’s way, and Leon found that he could adjust the details of each event, certainly at the very fringes, using his dream-weaving powers, so that bystanders were not crushed by falling debris or struck by stray lightning bolts.

In public, Kasvarina took the memories of her daughter’s death stoically. Later, when she and Leon were alone, she broke down and wept. She could understand what she might have done to make Latika and Sor hate her so much. Leon comforted her as best he could, and said that his past self had also done things he had been forced to confront. He was a wanted man, and a hate figure in parts of Risur. Kasvarina took his hand and thanked him for everything he had said and done.

But this exchange took place later on – in the meantime Uriel was drawn towards the harbour and thence out to sea. A whole flotilla of ships accompanied their commandeered schooner to a spot about a mile offshore, where an enormous storm blew up out of nowhere, heralding the arrival of Widoreva, an ancient blue dragon and the last tyrant of Seobriga.

Uriel, transformed into the armoured knight, Jannick, flew up to meet her on the back of a pegasus. After an initial skirmish, the pegasus was torn apart as Jannick leapt upon the dragon and sunk his sword between her shoulder blades. With a horrifying screech the dragon plunged into the sea, which she then electrified, only to emerge without her unwanted passenger and sail away. Jannick was left behind, unconscious and drowning.

The crowds were hugely disappointed by this. And it was all that Korrigan and Rumdoom could do to get to Uriel out of the water and stop him from dying too. But when he did awake, though exhausted and groggy, he found that he could recall much of Jannick’s skill in battle, and his particular knack for slaying monsters! He also knew that Jannick had reincarnated back on shore – a few miles to the west of Seobriga, in pitch darkness. Oddly, he found that he was still clutching a handful of pegasus mane, which gave him an new idea about how to interact with these memories.

They travelled to this place, but left the crowds behind them. Close to a small fishing village they found a series of burial mounds. It would appear that Jannick had reincarnated inside one of them. They gained access to the tomb within the mound and a memory event transpired in which the frightened ‘newborn’ deva used a necklace of bones from and a strange metal rod – both looted from a recumbent corpse – to ward off the angry spirits that tried to assail him. The event led him out of the tomb and into the village, where he was accosted by hostile and superstitious villagers, orcs whom he slew with the strange necromantic rod. The rod dissipated when he did so, but as the memory event faded, Uriel struggled to keep hold of the necklace. To his surprise, he succeeded and when he studied the item, he found it was a ward against the undead. This led him to excitedly suggest that they return to several other events and see if he could claim other items he had once owned.

Once they had smoothed over the disturbance this event had caused to the modern-day denizens of the village, they followed Uriel’s memories – or rather those of this latest incarnation, who had called himself Gjurd. He had returned to the tombs and learned more about the art of necromancy, and gone on to live a difficult life, harried by the superstitious inhabitants of Ber. But a ‘chance encounter’ with a wizard by the name of Vicemi Terio offered Gjurd an escape. By this point in time, Vicemi was already cadaverous, afflicted by a wasting disease (his ostensible reason for tracking down Gjurd, to see if necromancy could offer a cure, which it could not). But he soon offered Gjurd the chance to come with him to Danor, where his talents would be appreciated, not viewed as witchcraft. A final memory event saw them boarding a ship and setting sail.

End of Session

Session 35, Part One - Fleeting Flint

Just before they left Seobriga they heard a rumour that Glaucia was in Bruse Shantus’ bad books. He wasn’t happy about the public display of memory events, although it wasn’t clear if his annoyance was because he hadn’t been consulted or invited, or because it flattered someone other than him (and reminded everyone who saved him).

Rumdoom had received word from Trekhom. His followers were concerned that they could not hold out much longer: the Doom Cult of Grandis Kamanov was closing in on them, and they would soon lose the Skull of Cheshimox, and very possibly their lives. But it wasn’t possible to simply teleport to Trekhom. The Drakren dwarves were very jealous of their circles, and would regard any unofficial breach of regular protocol very dimly indeed. In any case, Leon was not sure he could manage a very distant teleport with so many people, given the strange conditions that were currently affecting all such magic. (Gupta was concerned to find out more about this strange phenomenon and set about doing so.)

So they elected to briefly visit Flint, and send the Impossible to Trekhom. (They had had the ship hastily repaired at the Black Star Mining shipyard, using druidic magic to ‘heal’ the wood quickly.) Korrigan sent ahead to Delft to let him know they were coming, and also asked Morgan Cippiano for a meeting if possible. Gupta sent to Lauryn Cyneburg to ascertain what she had found out about teleportation.

They would be in Flint for less than twenty-four hours. It was decided therefore that neither Kasvarina nor Uriel should pursue any memory events for fear that doing so would embroil them in matters too complicated to resolve in that time. Besides, given that both of them would want to revisit the Cauldron Hill complex, they would need to give advance notice to the mayor of the Nettles and Lieutenant Dale, which they did. Uriel was impatient with this decision, so Korrigan took the Arc of Reida for safekeeping…

They arrived in Uru’s garden, where Uru and Leon had fashioned a clockwork teleportation circle. It moved at random, but exactly matched the movements of a small, watch-sized copy Uru carried with him, so only they could know the precise alignment of the runes at any one moment. This was the first view most of the unit had had of the garden, with its strange, bleak fauna, and alien insects. It was nevertheless oddly peaceful (even when you noticed it was littered and fertilized by human limbs). Uru’s gardeners came to greet him: four street kids – much older now than when they first took on the role: a remade boy with steam-driven caterpillar tracks for feet, two shy sprytes and a hedgehog hengeyokai. Around them were the manifestations of countless ghosts, all drawn to the safety of garden and away from the hauntings on the hill. They were very pleased to see Uru and welcomed him home warmly. (This was the first time Gupta had seen him in anything other than a sinister, predatory light and she understood for the first time his true place in the unit.)

Uru went from the garden to visit Tinker Jack, and take his son Little Jack to see him. (Little Jack lived inside Uru’s spider-like clockwork contraption and could communicate with his father with taps and clicks. Previously, Malthusius had been able to enliven him; this wasn’t the same.) While he was here, Uru realised an even deeper connection with the Nettles, and with Flint as a whole. Where previously he had sought to use his network of contacts to gain mere information, now it felt as if he could feel the emotions of the city itself, and he felt buoyed and strengthened by this newfound affinity.

Korrigan went for a debriefing with Delft. Delft approved of all of his actions so far, but felt out of his depth when Korrigan mentioned his plan to establish a network of positive contacts in each nation. (He was drawing a blank as far as Danor was concerned, but Delft said he was unable to help. Gupta later provided at least one minor inroad.) Delft said that he and other advisors were petitioning the king to rethink his policy on Danor and take more aggressive action, especially since the Sovereign’s attack on Macdam. Their hope was to persuade Aodhan to declare war on Danor and retake Axis Island. “That seems to be a focus for Obscurati activity,” said Delft. “And we’ve already taken it twice. Although reports suggest that its defences are more substantial now. Keep doing what you’re doing, and see if we can get control of the colossus that way. But be prepared for a last-minute call. We’ll want you involved if Aodhan agrees to strike.”

Their ostensibly private meeting was interrupted by Professor Ludo Marcione – leader of ‘team B’ – who had pushed past Dima to angrily demand his own meeting with Delft. When he caught sight of Korrigan, his bluster faded and he allowed himself to be led away. Delft said that he had not be able to rely on team B as heavily these days and the ambitious Marcione was unhappy about this perceived slight. “But most of his team are rookies. Doctor Stanhope is still on board, but the others left shortly after their last mission. The Eldritch Division dwarves said they wouldn’t work with Ludo again, and Brajham Silverspire had to be institutionalised; lost it after the death of his brother, and insanity and fire-wizards don’t mix.”

Incognito, Gupta went to pay her respects at the shrine where her family home once stood. The city had erected memorial obelisks at the site of each of Borne’s footfalls. But time and overcrowding had seen them encroached upon from all sides. There were now two new houses on either side of where her parent’s house had been. Gupta stood for a moment and meditated on grief. Then she said, aloud, “We’re going to stop this thing.” At that, she heard the cries of her family, calling for help. This had happened before – each time she ‘died’. At first she dismissed this as a memory, but the cries continued, closer and more persistent. Her capacity to wonder on such matters led her to a revelation: She felt sure that the distance between them was temporal in both senses of that word, and that she would one day hear those cries up close, as if they were coming to her now on waves through time. As the teleportation conundrum was at the forefront of her mind, she wondered if that issue might also be related, and reported her thoughts to Lauryn Cyneburg.

(Gupta also looked into Catherine Romana whose body they had not found when Nicodemus slaughtered the Colossal Congress. No one had heard from her, but the dire tiger they had seen dead in her place was not her – as Gupta had wondered – but her fey familiar, which normally took the form of a pet cat. Romana had been an ally of the fey, a supporter of Duchess Ethelyn of Shale, and an opponent of Risur’s industrialisation. Having met her, though, Gupta could not help but think that this stance was a matter of politics rather than principle.)

Rumdoom had contacted those who had once been a part of his Rumschatology sect in Flint. He would like to have a word with them, he said. Rumdoom thought that it would be hard work to try to reinvigorate their faith in him and his brand of eschatology. Things had not ended well; the group had been heavily infiltrated by Kamanov Cultists who had gone on to commit terrorist atrocities throughout Flint; their funds had been stolen by Azon the Stoneforger, leaving the sect penniless. But in his absence, a reformed Khaled Valchek had been at work: When Rumdoom’s clockwork carriage stopped at his old clapboard meeting house, it stood empty. Outside was an excited group of dwarves who told him to go on to the well-appointed chapel Valchek’s rival group had once used. This place was well-lit and filled with ardent Rumschatologists. Rumdoom was glad he had asked Kieran Sentacore to come along and bear witness to these events. The dwarves all cheered when he arrived and listened to his taciturn but oddly inspiring speech.

When he was done, Valchek stepped up and shook his hand. His said that they were the only two left of Rumdoom’s old eschatological cell. Thered, Thurgid and Khoomrung were all dead – all corrupted by the Kamanov cult. Valchek had once thought that he was using them, but it turned out that Khoomrung had been using him – using all of them. Now that Rumdoom had given him another chance, having freed him from Benedict Pemberton, Valchek had retaken control of Black Star Mining and promised to use its substantial resources to support the spread of Rumschatology. Rumdoom’s religion would never again be short of funds! Rumdoom did not bother to thank him, but told him instead that the consequences of any further betrayal would be final. Valchek took no offence, and nodded his approval of this threat, as if it confirmed his faith in Rumdoom.

Matunaaga spent his time making a variety of magical ammunition. He had no interest in revisiting old haunts. Flint had never seemed like home to him; even less so now.

Leon took Kasvarina into the bayou to the cave of the Thinker – his otherworldly patron. Through deep meditation he caused the star-being to manifest, only to find its communications oddly halting, oddly human, and strangely final. Where normally he was forced to derive what meaning he could from abstract concepts, now the words were clear and Kasvarina could hear them too. The Thinker said that it was glad to see Kasvarina on the road to salvation, and hoped that it would be able to join her on that road. Kasvarina was affected by these words, and felt that she somehow knew the Thinker.

The Thinker reminded Leon to keep looking for the planar idols (some of which he had already found and brought to this place), if only to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. “Although it may already be too late for them to be of any real use.” The Thinker’s defeatist tone continued when he advised Leon to be ready to fight the Ob ‘even after they have won’. It said that it had to be very careful what it told him, for fear of causing ‘unforeseen ripples’, then added that it would soon be time for it to leave this place; that this might be their final meeting. Then the Thinker withdrew.

Leon showed Kasvarina the idols and she was particularly taken with the two the witches had combined: the glass tesseract and the amethyst ouroboros. Time and space. Leon warned her not to touch them. They reminded Kasvarina of a powerful spell worked by eladrin wizards that enabled the caster to create a pocket plane of their very own, with doors connected to places all around the world – both in Lanjyr and the Dreaming. She had seen how adept Leon had become at teleportation magic, and the weaving of dream-stuff, and wondered if he might be capable of creating such a space with her help.

Korrigan went alone to meet with Morgan Cippiano, in secret at the rear of Dozy Mendici’s cobbler shop. While Malthusius had always been careful to foster relations with the head of the Family, Korrigan had regarded the idea with some distaste. But now that they had established a clear and direct link between the Family and the Clergy, other threats at home and abroad meant that it would be short-sighted to ignore a potential ally. (After all, hadn’t they just parleyed with a dragon tyrant?) To that end, Korrigan brought a pair of leather boots from Seobriga as a gift for Cippiano, who received them appreciatively. Korrigan then thanked him for his assistance with matters in Elfaivar. He then asked Cippiano what his expectations would be as their relationship moved forward – bearing in mind that Korrigan was no longer active in the immediate area. Cippiano said that, as always, his concern was to have help ‘dealing with the criminal element’. Right now, an interloper was encroaching on legitimate business concerns in the docks – a rival whom called himself ‘El Primo’. Korrigan said he couldn’t promise anything, but he would see what the RHC could do. In return, he asked what Cippanio could do to smoothe over their forthcoming visit to Alais Primos. Cippiano replied that he too would ‘see what he could do’. The implications were clear.

Later, Korrigan meditated and sought to discover what the Humble Hook made of his dealings with Cippiano. The Hook responded with approval. Korrigan realised that if it had taken as long as it had to fall off Nicodemus, he must have a long way to go before it abandoned him!

I love all the characters having their own goals and personal stories.

Are you using the prestige classes for Uru and company.