Aeon (updated 10/9/14)
Jackylhunter
First Post
Wow, simply wow. Nice to hear from you again, Sep. Keep the posts coming.
Zelda Themelin
First Post
Thank you.
This made wonderful christmas present for me.
This made wonderful christmas present for me.
Joshua Randall
Legend
Keeping in mind that this is the recounting of an actual game with actual players, I'm wondering how this worked out at the gaming table.
We've got four players with four epic-level characters, each with his own agenda. Space (and to a lesser extent, time) is not a contraint -- they can pretty much go anywhere they want.
How did the players work out whose plot-line gets advanced at any particular session? Is there some kind of round-robin order? Or whomever yells the loudest? Or roll a d20 and see who wins?
We've got four players with four epic-level characters, each with his own agenda. Space (and to a lesser extent, time) is not a contraint -- they can pretty much go anywhere they want.
How did the players work out whose plot-line gets advanced at any particular session? Is there some kind of round-robin order? Or whomever yells the loudest? Or roll a d20 and see who wins?
The Forsaken One
Explorer
OW
MY
GOD
UPDATE
*gets drinks, food and puts good music on*
God the day I've been waiting for has arrived. Thanks for this X-mas present Sep!
Btw where did the epic magic thread go from you and Cheiro?
Hope you had a great Christmas!
MY
GOD
UPDATE
*gets drinks, food and puts good music on*
God the day I've been waiting for has arrived. Thanks for this X-mas present Sep!
Btw where did the epic magic thread go from you and Cheiro?
Hope you had a great Christmas!
The Forsaken One
Explorer
Damn Sep! Can't wait for the resolving around Ortwines divinity and the mulissu/iua plot!
I always loved Mulissu.
Hooked again! Awsome
I always loved Mulissu
.Hooked again! Awsome
Sepulchrave II
Legend
Given his oft-voiced concerns, Cheiromancer will appreciate the irony of two particular spells. The double-whammy of Mostin casting a disjunction and Eadric speaking a holy word would become a staple opening gambit in combat. Nwm preferred spontaneous epic [death] effects, or to shapechange into a dragon or phoenix.
*
Mostin's Moment in Time was devised by the Alienist during his tutelage under the entity Ghom, who dwells beyond the middle-region.
Its premise is simple – to look inside when one is Outside is to observe the bounded cosmos transfixed in time, as though one were under the effect of a time stop. Or it can be, which is all that matters for the type of magic that Mostin practices.
In any event, imagine, for a moment, that you are Outside. You turn your consciousness inside to observe the Moment, while you perceive time passing normally for you – or as normally as it does when one is Outside.
Your target – Surab-Iua – is warded by a mind blank, the web of motes is undetectable by any magic, and the only other name with which you have been furnished by your metagnostic inquiry – a daemon named Tholhaluk – is likewise impenetrable to your divination.
But you have your Moment. You use a limited wish to commune with pseudodeities of terrible knowledge, and invoke visions. You determine the location of Tholhaluk's stronghold, and discover that he has severed his link with the Demon Graz'zt. The fact that Tholhaluk's chief henchman is the arcanadaemon Xufu is also revealed to you. You learn of the garden of mind – a magical locus which is controlled by Tholhaluk.
You scry Xufu and are delighted to find that your spell penetrates his ward. Moreover, he is in an audience chamber, kneeling before an empty throne – whoever sits upon it is doubtless mind blanked, and hence cannot be perceived by you. Daemonic mercenaries throng about. You inspect their gazes, and the hidden messages which lie behind them: with your insight you infer the location of another presence in the room, also invisible to your spell.
With successive divinations, you determine the protections which ward the chamber, and the areas which abut it. A hundred feet below, you locate an abandoned cyst once home to a pack of barghests. It is outside of the dimensional lock.
You meditate, and gather your strength. Once you are inside again, you must act quickly. Your Moment will have passed.
- Orolde's Third Temporal Treatise.
**
That they were in some kind of Hell was immediately apparent.
The evil was palpable, seeping from the floors and walls of a hewn chamber. Distant screams from damned souls echoed disturbingly. The air seemed ruddy.
The Ahma invoked a holy aura, and Lukarn kindled. As he watched Mostin mumble spells, Eadric was aghast at the transformation that the Alienist had undergone.
"I understand your awe at my beauty," Mostin said earnestly. His visage resumed its more familiar cast, and his organ became a hand. "I will spare you the spiritual conflict that it must evoke in you."
"Indeed," Eadric agreed diplomatically.
Mostin scowled sharply, and pointed. 'What is she doing here?"
Sho stood behind Nwm. She had followed him through the gate.
"I am here for my edification," Sho remarked calmly.
"You are a blank slate, begging to be possessed," Mostin was agitated. "There is no time for this nonsense. Return at once."
"Can you not…?"
Eadric warded her.
The Alienist scowled again. "Listen carefully. We are about to assault a jackal-daemon, an arcanaloth named Tholhaluk. He is a powerful sorcerer; currently we are below his throne-room, which is dimensionally locked. We must kill or drive off the fiend as quickly as possible – he has yagnodaemon guards, but they should prove reasonably easy to overcome. Iua will be there: her weapon is inhabited by the demon Surab, and she is quite mad. Try not to kill her. Notice the direction in which I face: the daemon will be fifty feet, dead ahead, when we gain the chamber. When I scried, there was a gap between two yagnoloths…"
Ortwine sighed. It would be her – she was the fastest.
"How did you…" Nwm began.
"There is no time," Mostin opened a passwall directly above their heads. Then three more, each delving a shaft deeper and higher into the rock above them. The Alienist bestowed the power of flight upon them all.
They ascended the shaft swiftly, and Mostin removed their last obstacle – the three feet of magically reinforced adamantine which was the floor of Tholhaluk's sanctum – with a quickened disintegrate. A lurid, red-green light immediately illuminated the shaft, vying with Lukarn's brilliance.
Mostin, followed by Eadric, Nwm and Sho, shot upwards into the centre of a tall chamber wherein hundreds of fiends were gathered. The Alienist unleashed a disjunction immediately. Space buckled as Eadric spoke a holy word: a swathe of grossly misshapen daemons burned away in a wide circle, instantly turned to ash by his power. Nwm invoked a spell: great metallic barbs, like spiked lances, erupted from the floor, impaling dozens.
Fiends fled away from them in every direction.
Eadric glanced toward where Mostin's disjunction had fallen: the Eye of Palamabron revealed an unweaving cloth of impossible colours, which rapidly evaporated into nothingness.
Ortwine's invisible form flashed through the demagicked area at breakneck speed towards a group of daemons who were gathered on a low dais. The Ahma observed that the Sidhe bore the scimitar won from the succubus Cemdrei in Afqithan, and hoped it would prove equal to the task. Iua also stood there.
Her reactions were undiminished.
Even as Ortwine's scimitar found its mark, Iua had leapt the distance between them and was about her in a fury, stabbing with uncanny speed.
Ortwine glanced toward Iua and caught her eye for a split second, hypnotizing her.
"Tholhaluk presents far more of a threat to you than I," Ortwine spoke quite reasonably as she proceeded to tear into Tholhaluk with her scimitar, slashing wildly; the daemon smote her with a destruction but it seemed to slide off of her. She deftly avoided the blows of two yagnodaemons as they struck the floor with their tol kendars, sending sparks flying into the air.
Tholhaluk disappeared in an instant.
Surab abandoned Iua's rapier and likewise vanished. But Iua's assault on Ortwine was just as determined.
She froze, as Mostin dominated her. The Alienist gestured again, opening another gate.
"Why the disjunction?" Eadric inquired.
"I know he's got one," Mostin replied. "I had to get mine in first. Quick. Before they return."
**
I have the web of motes Mostin's head span. He sat in a comfortable chair in his study, fondling it with his pseudopod.
"Are you keeping it?" Eadric asked pointedly, trying not to look too closely at the Alienist's appendage. "Is Mulissu still its steward? What is the protocol?"
"Finders keepers," Mostin cackled. He sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I must first confer with Mulissu: she has returned as a fey. Teppu persuaded her. Although I suspect that she is less Green than Teppu would have liked: that, at least, should be some comfort."
Nwm guffawed. "Are you serious?"
"How delicious," Ortwine smiled. "One point to the Viridity, I say. You'd better get resurrecting, Eadric or you'll lose the race. Are you edified, Sho?"
The simulacrum stared at her, and then looked at Mostin. "Nwm informs me that you plan to combine me with a pseudonatural analogue of my maker. Is this correct?"
"Yes," Mostin nodded, glaring briefly at Nwm. "It is your destiny. Shomei predicted it."
"She may have," Nwm interrupted. "And she may not have. It's all a matter of interpretation."
"Don't start trying to seduce my students with your green-ness," Mostin barked. He turned again to Sho. "Nwm thinks I should reify you with a wish. Would you wish for such a mundane noogenesis? One should start on the highest available rung of the ladder of consciousness."
"I have no preference in this regard," Sho admitted.
"And therein lies the dilemma," Nwm sighed. "How can one best determine the mode of one's being when one is not empowered with an existential appreciation of the choice?"
"Do not let Nwm mislead you into thinking he is any saner than Mostin," Ortwine poured herself a glass of kschiff, sniffed it, and placed it on the table with a look of distaste. "Although I would still recommend against Mostin's preferred course of action: if you possessed an ethical locus, you would feel the same way."
Sho stood uncertainly, and looked at Eadric. "You are the Ahma – and are thus bound up in Shomei's world-view. What is your advice?"
"You lack the capacity for reflective thought," Eadric smiled sadly. "I'm not sure I have a position."
"I can awaken you," Nwm said. "What's more, I can do it now. It will contextualize your perception."
"You will be choosing an inferior state of being," Mostin was rapidly becoming agitated.
"When will this pseudosynthesis be possible?" She asked Mostin.
"It is some time distant," the Alienist admitted. "It has not been foremost in my thoughts."
"I am at a higher risk of annihilation as a simulacrum."
Mostin nodded dumbly. He knew what was coming next.
Sho spoke clearly. "I invoke both governing axioms, preserve thyself and transcend thyself, and choose Nwm's awakening as the best way to satisfy both. Is my logic flawed?"
"No," Mostin sighed. "But let me say this: what I have to offer, you will fear when your consciousness is so confined. A limitless ocean of possibility will appear beyond your ken, and you will be repelled by it. If you assume such a mundane state, try to recall the fact that at this moment you feel no abhorrence and no trepidation. Your natural aptitude will be for conjuration – much as your maker. I will teach you the secret method, if you are so inclined."
"And what of Mei?" Eadric asked.
"She can make her own choice," Nwm rose up. "Come. Don't be disturbed at the sight of my skin boiling away – I recover quickly."
*
When they returned, an hour later, Sho was silent. Mostin looked long at her.
"Is this the weight of being?" She asked.
"Yes," Mostin said enthusiastically. "You must strive to overcome it! Destroy yourself a hundred million times."
"And then?"
"The gods will fear you."
"This philosophy sits well with me."
"It should. I suspect you are rather predisposed to appreciate it. But you should contemplate your paradigm carefully."
"Unnecessary. I choose Goetia as my vehicle," Sho announced.
Nwm groaned. Eadric hung his head. Mostin sighed.
"You are choosing a lesser infinity," Mostin had a pained expression.
"I find your theories untenable," Sho replied.
The Alienist sat back, and pondered briefly. "Very well. My summoning room is at your disposal. Use the mirror as much as you need. Any spell in my collection is yours for the transcription. Please refrain from using my scrolls. Study the Injunction carefully, especially article nineteen."
"Thank-you," Sho nodded.
"Where will you start?" Mostin inquired.
"With Erinyes."
"Beware of Dispater! I would choose an unaffiliated duke, away from the main axes of power. Seere counts Erinyes in his train." Mostin silently unclasped the mantle which first Irknaan, and then Nhura, had worn before him, and handed it to Sho. "Consider this an indefinite loan."
Eadric raised an eyebrow. It was a fabulously extravagant gesture.*
"Mei is still considering her options," Nwm was exhausted. "But she is an impression from a later epoch of Shomei's consciousness, after her reincarnation. Her decision may surprise us."
**
The inauguration of the Ahma as Earl Marshal of Wyre was a subdued and informal affair, as Eadric had requested. It was silently ratified by the small council, each magnate witnessing in succession, and approved by the King.
Ortwine and Nwm were present in no specific capacity; Tahl, Rede and Tarpion – a saint and two vengeful spirits – also came in the Ahma's train. Mostin had absented himself to avoid being politically compromised, and had instead travelled with Daunton to open a dialogue with Mulissu.
It came after the first major spells of the conflict had been cast; not the destructive magicks and compacted demons which Eadric had feared and anticipated, but a series of massive enchantments which had fired the uncertain masses of a dozen Thalassine cities into a bellicose fervour. Daunton's spies reported bizarre behaviour among the aristocrats of Jeshat, and a notable increase in anti-Wyrish rhetoric. The diviner ascribed the change to dozens of strategically-placed compulsions, which would prove difficult to locate – much less counteract.
After the ceremony, Eadric took counsel with Prince Tagur, Attar, and Sihu. Foide left on 'urgent business,' the nature of which, Tahl guessed, involved putting as great a distance between himself and the Ahma as was practical.
"Until the threat has been properly assessed, we will deploy troops in cadres of no more than one hundred," Eadric removed his gauntlets and sank into a carved siege. "Any more is inviting disaster. Twenty knights, plus infantry and outrider support. They will adopt a defensive strategy – there will be no heroic charges.
"Each cell will have a number of Templars attached to it. I have authorized the full use of the scrolls from the vaults below the Temple scriptorium: now I regret that so many were squandered during Trempa's secession. Certain more independently-minded mages have expressed an interest in joining the effort, as long as the conflict remains south of Hrim Eorth and the remit of the Claviger: their contribution should be welcomed.
"Orders will be simple: harass the enemy where possible; stay alive at all costs. Gallant dead knights are no use to me. Adopt a guerilla style of warfare. Strike and flee. Burn baggage trains. Poison enemy wells. Kill them in their sleep. Use whatever means necessary. Keep moving. This is about survival. Make them bleed for every inch they advance.
"As Ahma, I take the moral burden of the atrocities to be committed entirely upon myself. Make it clear that all who join us are absolved of all sin. This is a Holy War: their entry to paradise is assured. Are there any questions?"
*
"Where is she?" The Alienist complained. "And why did you choose this locale?"
Daunton and Mostin stood upon a jagged pylon of rock; the ocean crashed at its base.
"I am here, idiot." Mulissu was aerial, manifesting before them in a blue haze.
"I trust your transmigration was satisfactory?"
"What choice did I have? Teppu was unwavering in the weight of guilt which he applied to me."
"Are you sympathetic to his cause?"
"Oh, broadly, I suppose," Mulissu seemed distracted. "But I am still Mulissu and he is no longer Jovol."
"Hlioth traces the continuity."
"Hlioth is deranged. I bear no comparison with that crone."
"I have secured Iua," Mostin said.
"I know. You suddenly felt it necessary after many months – lest my ire descend upon you, I suppose?
"Quite so. She is currently dominated."
"That is a wise precaution," Mulissu nodded. "I would suggest returning her to the Temple of Jeshi, but the Thalassine is rife with unrest. Magathei will be safer."
"To Ulao?" Mostin asked. "Is that wise?"
"Perhaps not. But I cannot guard her,"
"There is a demon. Surab…"
"Can you deal with it?" Mulissu asked.
"Regrettably, I cannot," Mostin looked apologetic. "I am under Empyreal contract, and must abstain from Goetic practices for the nonce."
"Must I do everything?" Mulissu scowled.
"I recommend a finger of death. He is warded against enchantments, and your evocations won't even tickle him."
"How long is this bizarre Enochian phase likely to last?"
"A few more weeks, at least," Mostin grinned.
"Don't get too comfortable, Mostin. Death has not lessened my anger towards you. And what have you done to yourself?"
"Evolved," Mostin nodded.
*This apparent act of generosity belies the fact that Mostin already had high SR and groovy spell absorption powers. His tenure in Uzzhin (which served as a useful way to advance the plot) had gained him the Pseudonatural (CA) and Spellwarped (MMIII) templates. They brought him up to ECL 30 or so, on par with Ortwine and Eadric.
Nwm was 28th-level, with a revised VOP and two powerful permanent epic wards on him: dwimmerhame (which grants SR 38) and anathema ward which prevents bodily contact with outsiders.
I should probably update the rogues' gallery at some point
Sho's Awakening looks like this:
Instantaneous DC=0 epic spell. Seed: animate (DC 25), life (DC27), fortify ( DC17); Mitigating: 11-min casting time (-10 DC), 50d6 backlash (-50 DC), burn 900 XP (-9 DC).
*
Mostin's Moment in Time was devised by the Alienist during his tutelage under the entity Ghom, who dwells beyond the middle-region.
Its premise is simple – to look inside when one is Outside is to observe the bounded cosmos transfixed in time, as though one were under the effect of a time stop. Or it can be, which is all that matters for the type of magic that Mostin practices.
In any event, imagine, for a moment, that you are Outside. You turn your consciousness inside to observe the Moment, while you perceive time passing normally for you – or as normally as it does when one is Outside.
Your target – Surab-Iua – is warded by a mind blank, the web of motes is undetectable by any magic, and the only other name with which you have been furnished by your metagnostic inquiry – a daemon named Tholhaluk – is likewise impenetrable to your divination.
But you have your Moment. You use a limited wish to commune with pseudodeities of terrible knowledge, and invoke visions. You determine the location of Tholhaluk's stronghold, and discover that he has severed his link with the Demon Graz'zt. The fact that Tholhaluk's chief henchman is the arcanadaemon Xufu is also revealed to you. You learn of the garden of mind – a magical locus which is controlled by Tholhaluk.
You scry Xufu and are delighted to find that your spell penetrates his ward. Moreover, he is in an audience chamber, kneeling before an empty throne – whoever sits upon it is doubtless mind blanked, and hence cannot be perceived by you. Daemonic mercenaries throng about. You inspect their gazes, and the hidden messages which lie behind them: with your insight you infer the location of another presence in the room, also invisible to your spell.
With successive divinations, you determine the protections which ward the chamber, and the areas which abut it. A hundred feet below, you locate an abandoned cyst once home to a pack of barghests. It is outside of the dimensional lock.
You meditate, and gather your strength. Once you are inside again, you must act quickly. Your Moment will have passed.
- Orolde's Third Temporal Treatise.
**
That they were in some kind of Hell was immediately apparent.
The evil was palpable, seeping from the floors and walls of a hewn chamber. Distant screams from damned souls echoed disturbingly. The air seemed ruddy.
The Ahma invoked a holy aura, and Lukarn kindled. As he watched Mostin mumble spells, Eadric was aghast at the transformation that the Alienist had undergone.
"I understand your awe at my beauty," Mostin said earnestly. His visage resumed its more familiar cast, and his organ became a hand. "I will spare you the spiritual conflict that it must evoke in you."
"Indeed," Eadric agreed diplomatically.
Mostin scowled sharply, and pointed. 'What is she doing here?"
Sho stood behind Nwm. She had followed him through the gate.
"I am here for my edification," Sho remarked calmly.
"You are a blank slate, begging to be possessed," Mostin was agitated. "There is no time for this nonsense. Return at once."
"Can you not…?"
Eadric warded her.
The Alienist scowled again. "Listen carefully. We are about to assault a jackal-daemon, an arcanaloth named Tholhaluk. He is a powerful sorcerer; currently we are below his throne-room, which is dimensionally locked. We must kill or drive off the fiend as quickly as possible – he has yagnodaemon guards, but they should prove reasonably easy to overcome. Iua will be there: her weapon is inhabited by the demon Surab, and she is quite mad. Try not to kill her. Notice the direction in which I face: the daemon will be fifty feet, dead ahead, when we gain the chamber. When I scried, there was a gap between two yagnoloths…"
Ortwine sighed. It would be her – she was the fastest.
"How did you…" Nwm began.
"There is no time," Mostin opened a passwall directly above their heads. Then three more, each delving a shaft deeper and higher into the rock above them. The Alienist bestowed the power of flight upon them all.
They ascended the shaft swiftly, and Mostin removed their last obstacle – the three feet of magically reinforced adamantine which was the floor of Tholhaluk's sanctum – with a quickened disintegrate. A lurid, red-green light immediately illuminated the shaft, vying with Lukarn's brilliance.
Mostin, followed by Eadric, Nwm and Sho, shot upwards into the centre of a tall chamber wherein hundreds of fiends were gathered. The Alienist unleashed a disjunction immediately. Space buckled as Eadric spoke a holy word: a swathe of grossly misshapen daemons burned away in a wide circle, instantly turned to ash by his power. Nwm invoked a spell: great metallic barbs, like spiked lances, erupted from the floor, impaling dozens.
Fiends fled away from them in every direction.
Eadric glanced toward where Mostin's disjunction had fallen: the Eye of Palamabron revealed an unweaving cloth of impossible colours, which rapidly evaporated into nothingness.
Ortwine's invisible form flashed through the demagicked area at breakneck speed towards a group of daemons who were gathered on a low dais. The Ahma observed that the Sidhe bore the scimitar won from the succubus Cemdrei in Afqithan, and hoped it would prove equal to the task. Iua also stood there.
Her reactions were undiminished.
Even as Ortwine's scimitar found its mark, Iua had leapt the distance between them and was about her in a fury, stabbing with uncanny speed.
Ortwine glanced toward Iua and caught her eye for a split second, hypnotizing her.
"Tholhaluk presents far more of a threat to you than I," Ortwine spoke quite reasonably as she proceeded to tear into Tholhaluk with her scimitar, slashing wildly; the daemon smote her with a destruction but it seemed to slide off of her. She deftly avoided the blows of two yagnodaemons as they struck the floor with their tol kendars, sending sparks flying into the air.
Tholhaluk disappeared in an instant.
Surab abandoned Iua's rapier and likewise vanished. But Iua's assault on Ortwine was just as determined.
She froze, as Mostin dominated her. The Alienist gestured again, opening another gate.
"Why the disjunction?" Eadric inquired.
"I know he's got one," Mostin replied. "I had to get mine in first. Quick. Before they return."
**
I have the web of motes Mostin's head span. He sat in a comfortable chair in his study, fondling it with his pseudopod.
"Are you keeping it?" Eadric asked pointedly, trying not to look too closely at the Alienist's appendage. "Is Mulissu still its steward? What is the protocol?"
"Finders keepers," Mostin cackled. He sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I must first confer with Mulissu: she has returned as a fey. Teppu persuaded her. Although I suspect that she is less Green than Teppu would have liked: that, at least, should be some comfort."
Nwm guffawed. "Are you serious?"
"How delicious," Ortwine smiled. "One point to the Viridity, I say. You'd better get resurrecting, Eadric or you'll lose the race. Are you edified, Sho?"
The simulacrum stared at her, and then looked at Mostin. "Nwm informs me that you plan to combine me with a pseudonatural analogue of my maker. Is this correct?"
"Yes," Mostin nodded, glaring briefly at Nwm. "It is your destiny. Shomei predicted it."
"She may have," Nwm interrupted. "And she may not have. It's all a matter of interpretation."
"Don't start trying to seduce my students with your green-ness," Mostin barked. He turned again to Sho. "Nwm thinks I should reify you with a wish. Would you wish for such a mundane noogenesis? One should start on the highest available rung of the ladder of consciousness."
"I have no preference in this regard," Sho admitted.
"And therein lies the dilemma," Nwm sighed. "How can one best determine the mode of one's being when one is not empowered with an existential appreciation of the choice?"
"Do not let Nwm mislead you into thinking he is any saner than Mostin," Ortwine poured herself a glass of kschiff, sniffed it, and placed it on the table with a look of distaste. "Although I would still recommend against Mostin's preferred course of action: if you possessed an ethical locus, you would feel the same way."
Sho stood uncertainly, and looked at Eadric. "You are the Ahma – and are thus bound up in Shomei's world-view. What is your advice?"
"You lack the capacity for reflective thought," Eadric smiled sadly. "I'm not sure I have a position."
"I can awaken you," Nwm said. "What's more, I can do it now. It will contextualize your perception."
"You will be choosing an inferior state of being," Mostin was rapidly becoming agitated.
"When will this pseudosynthesis be possible?" She asked Mostin.
"It is some time distant," the Alienist admitted. "It has not been foremost in my thoughts."
"I am at a higher risk of annihilation as a simulacrum."
Mostin nodded dumbly. He knew what was coming next.
Sho spoke clearly. "I invoke both governing axioms, preserve thyself and transcend thyself, and choose Nwm's awakening as the best way to satisfy both. Is my logic flawed?"
"No," Mostin sighed. "But let me say this: what I have to offer, you will fear when your consciousness is so confined. A limitless ocean of possibility will appear beyond your ken, and you will be repelled by it. If you assume such a mundane state, try to recall the fact that at this moment you feel no abhorrence and no trepidation. Your natural aptitude will be for conjuration – much as your maker. I will teach you the secret method, if you are so inclined."
"And what of Mei?" Eadric asked.
"She can make her own choice," Nwm rose up. "Come. Don't be disturbed at the sight of my skin boiling away – I recover quickly."
*
When they returned, an hour later, Sho was silent. Mostin looked long at her.
"Is this the weight of being?" She asked.
"Yes," Mostin said enthusiastically. "You must strive to overcome it! Destroy yourself a hundred million times."
"And then?"
"The gods will fear you."
"This philosophy sits well with me."
"It should. I suspect you are rather predisposed to appreciate it. But you should contemplate your paradigm carefully."
"Unnecessary. I choose Goetia as my vehicle," Sho announced.
Nwm groaned. Eadric hung his head. Mostin sighed.
"You are choosing a lesser infinity," Mostin had a pained expression.
"I find your theories untenable," Sho replied.
The Alienist sat back, and pondered briefly. "Very well. My summoning room is at your disposal. Use the mirror as much as you need. Any spell in my collection is yours for the transcription. Please refrain from using my scrolls. Study the Injunction carefully, especially article nineteen."
"Thank-you," Sho nodded.
"Where will you start?" Mostin inquired.
"With Erinyes."
"Beware of Dispater! I would choose an unaffiliated duke, away from the main axes of power. Seere counts Erinyes in his train." Mostin silently unclasped the mantle which first Irknaan, and then Nhura, had worn before him, and handed it to Sho. "Consider this an indefinite loan."
Eadric raised an eyebrow. It was a fabulously extravagant gesture.*
"Mei is still considering her options," Nwm was exhausted. "But she is an impression from a later epoch of Shomei's consciousness, after her reincarnation. Her decision may surprise us."
**
The inauguration of the Ahma as Earl Marshal of Wyre was a subdued and informal affair, as Eadric had requested. It was silently ratified by the small council, each magnate witnessing in succession, and approved by the King.
Ortwine and Nwm were present in no specific capacity; Tahl, Rede and Tarpion – a saint and two vengeful spirits – also came in the Ahma's train. Mostin had absented himself to avoid being politically compromised, and had instead travelled with Daunton to open a dialogue with Mulissu.
It came after the first major spells of the conflict had been cast; not the destructive magicks and compacted demons which Eadric had feared and anticipated, but a series of massive enchantments which had fired the uncertain masses of a dozen Thalassine cities into a bellicose fervour. Daunton's spies reported bizarre behaviour among the aristocrats of Jeshat, and a notable increase in anti-Wyrish rhetoric. The diviner ascribed the change to dozens of strategically-placed compulsions, which would prove difficult to locate – much less counteract.
After the ceremony, Eadric took counsel with Prince Tagur, Attar, and Sihu. Foide left on 'urgent business,' the nature of which, Tahl guessed, involved putting as great a distance between himself and the Ahma as was practical.
"Until the threat has been properly assessed, we will deploy troops in cadres of no more than one hundred," Eadric removed his gauntlets and sank into a carved siege. "Any more is inviting disaster. Twenty knights, plus infantry and outrider support. They will adopt a defensive strategy – there will be no heroic charges.
"Each cell will have a number of Templars attached to it. I have authorized the full use of the scrolls from the vaults below the Temple scriptorium: now I regret that so many were squandered during Trempa's secession. Certain more independently-minded mages have expressed an interest in joining the effort, as long as the conflict remains south of Hrim Eorth and the remit of the Claviger: their contribution should be welcomed.
"Orders will be simple: harass the enemy where possible; stay alive at all costs. Gallant dead knights are no use to me. Adopt a guerilla style of warfare. Strike and flee. Burn baggage trains. Poison enemy wells. Kill them in their sleep. Use whatever means necessary. Keep moving. This is about survival. Make them bleed for every inch they advance.
"As Ahma, I take the moral burden of the atrocities to be committed entirely upon myself. Make it clear that all who join us are absolved of all sin. This is a Holy War: their entry to paradise is assured. Are there any questions?"
*
"Where is she?" The Alienist complained. "And why did you choose this locale?"
Daunton and Mostin stood upon a jagged pylon of rock; the ocean crashed at its base.
"I am here, idiot." Mulissu was aerial, manifesting before them in a blue haze.
"I trust your transmigration was satisfactory?"
"What choice did I have? Teppu was unwavering in the weight of guilt which he applied to me."
"Are you sympathetic to his cause?"
"Oh, broadly, I suppose," Mulissu seemed distracted. "But I am still Mulissu and he is no longer Jovol."
"Hlioth traces the continuity."
"Hlioth is deranged. I bear no comparison with that crone."
"I have secured Iua," Mostin said.
"I know. You suddenly felt it necessary after many months – lest my ire descend upon you, I suppose?
"Quite so. She is currently dominated."
"That is a wise precaution," Mulissu nodded. "I would suggest returning her to the Temple of Jeshi, but the Thalassine is rife with unrest. Magathei will be safer."
"To Ulao?" Mostin asked. "Is that wise?"
"Perhaps not. But I cannot guard her,"
"There is a demon. Surab…"
"Can you deal with it?" Mulissu asked.
"Regrettably, I cannot," Mostin looked apologetic. "I am under Empyreal contract, and must abstain from Goetic practices for the nonce."
"Must I do everything?" Mulissu scowled.
"I recommend a finger of death. He is warded against enchantments, and your evocations won't even tickle him."
"How long is this bizarre Enochian phase likely to last?"
"A few more weeks, at least," Mostin grinned.
"Don't get too comfortable, Mostin. Death has not lessened my anger towards you. And what have you done to yourself?"
"Evolved," Mostin nodded.
*This apparent act of generosity belies the fact that Mostin already had high SR and groovy spell absorption powers. His tenure in Uzzhin (which served as a useful way to advance the plot) had gained him the Pseudonatural (CA) and Spellwarped (MMIII) templates. They brought him up to ECL 30 or so, on par with Ortwine and Eadric.
Nwm was 28th-level, with a revised VOP and two powerful permanent epic wards on him: dwimmerhame (which grants SR 38) and anathema ward which prevents bodily contact with outsiders.
I should probably update the rogues' gallery at some point
Sho's Awakening looks like this:
Instantaneous DC=0 epic spell. Seed: animate (DC 25), life (DC27), fortify ( DC17); Mitigating: 11-min casting time (-10 DC), 50d6 backlash (-50 DC), burn 900 XP (-9 DC).
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