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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8939243" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 150, cont'd]</p><p>Father Waters brings the Archbishop to Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Your grace."</p><p></p><p>"My lady. How can I help? Father Waters believes there is a problem of significance."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. There was a powerful Noldor artifact in a church in the lower quarter. It was stolen by a group--we suspect by the Twilight Elf allied with the enemy that we have been fighting for the last some time. They have summoned a group of demons that killed the parish priest and the guards that were patrolling that area. The Knights of Valor have been summoned, and they are in pursuit right now. The body of the late priest is being brought to the Cathedral. The people of that parish are going to be very upset and will be looking for solace, so there's that, and then also the great unholiness that has been brought into the City. That area will need to be cleansed and reconsecrated."</p><p></p><p>"I will go personally."</p><p></p><p>"We ask that you not do that quite yet until the area has been secured."</p><p></p><p>"But the people need..."</p><p></p><p>"The area will be secured very quickly, if I am correct in what's about to happen. So please don't go immediately, but as soon as it is safe for you to go, we will let you know. And thank you."</p><p></p><p>"Your grace. I'll just wait out here then."</p><p></p><p>Kit has one of the pages get the archbishop whatever he wants to eat and drink.</p><p></p><p>Father Waters remains with Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Our very handsome young archbishop... the people love him. He reminds the old people of their child, and the young people of their brother or parent. It's working for him."</p><p></p><p>"Good. Considering what's going on in the City right now, the more devotion people have to the face of Glordiadel and to the leadership, the better."</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p>In the tunnels, the tracker says, "Dame, we're nearly at the entrance!" Nearly at the same moment, the front rank of her guards are engaged by the vrocks, which spray bursts of spores at them and then rip into them. Several fall almost immediately.</p><p></p><p>Just outside, the voller filled with paladins approaches the mouth of the sewer onto the river. Suddenly, an invisibility shield drops from a Noldor war schooner, which fires three death lances at the voller, inflicting substantial structural damage as well as killing many of the sailors. The ship is still flying, but only barely. The captain concludes he has two options: try to make a controlled landing or attempt to ram to allow the paladins to start a boarding action. He swings his voller around and rams the war schooner. His ship is falling apart as he rams, but two ranks of the paladins can make it across, which is enough to get 24 of the 25 Knights of Valor across. One of the two surviving crew members also leaps across as the captain, the remaining living crew member, the last paladin, and the dead bodies on the broken voller crash to the ground, killing at least the crew member and the captain.</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna transmits through the mindlink, <<We've engaged the vrocks. Heavy fighting here, but no sign of the demon commander.>></p><p></p><p><<Likely a rearguard to slow you down while it tries to escape, then.>> A runner gives Alistair a report about the engagement between the vollers. Alistair says to Lord Davion, who accompanied him to the courtyard, "There's an excellent chance that that Twilight Elf who's been giving you trouble is on the deck of that voller, where those paladins are."</p><p></p><p>"I will join the paladins. Do not send additional wooden ships-- as long as the death lance is operational, they will be slaughtered like sheep, and you need some sky navy."</p><p></p><p>"Understood."</p><p></p><p>Lord Davion heads rapidly towards a point where he can teleport.</p><p></p><p><<If you can use your connections, Alistair, to find any place where we should be heading once we've dealt with this group...>> sends Dame Brionna, forgetting in the intensity of the combat to use an honorific.</p><p></p><p><<That voller was almost certainly planning on picking up the key when the demon exited the outlet, but I'll see if I can sense anything else.>></p><p></p><p>Back at the battle, the pit fiend uses its innate ability to teleport without error to teleport past the vrocks. It runs forward, hunting the officer, while taunting it in Abyssal: describing demons as weak and stupid, saying that it was killing demons back when that meant something, and so forth.</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna smites the vrock on one side with two smites and a normal blow.</p><p></p><p>The erinyes throw their entangling ropes, and miss.</p><p></p><p>The clerics each cast Dismissal. The two unwounded vrocks make their saves, but the badly wounded one decides to cut its losses and disappears entirely.</p><p></p><p>The psion flings an energy bolt, dealing 13 damage.</p><p></p><p>One vrock continues attacking the badly wounded paladins in the front rank. The other shrieks, stunning some of the various combatants.</p><p></p><p>Two of the wizards cast Shout, inflicting a bunch of damage on the vrocks. One vrock saves both times, but the other doesn't. The other casts Confusion on one of the vrocks, causing it to flee at best possible speed.</p><p></p><p>Outside, there is a flash on the deck of the ship as Lord Davion appears. At almost the same moment the glabrezou exits the outlet from the sewers, just as the Noldor appears and unleashes his aura of awe. The glabrezou sees this, and leaps into the river below. The pit fiend, chasing after it, doesn't hesitate at all to dive in after it, hoping to grapple the glabrezou and tear it to pieces.</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna strikes the last vrock several times, though not smiting to save her smites for the officer.</p><p></p><p>The clerics then cast soundburst on it three times.</p><p></p><p>The vrock, on its last legs but being a vile and hateful creature, tries to take someone with it, hitting a badly wounded paladin with both claws, a bite, and a talon, enough to kill another paladin outright.</p><p></p><p>One wizard casts confusion again, but does not make it through spell resistance this time.</p><p></p><p>The last standing paladin smites again, killing the last vrock, which says in Abyssal as it falls, "The Queen will return!"</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna pushes forward, while shouting for the clerics to keep the rest of the group alive.</p><p></p><p>Back on the deck of the ship, the battle is robust. The crew is a mixture of drow and uruks, but Lord Davion can cut through them, especially reinforced by the paladins.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, the glabrezou and the pit fiend struggle. The glabrezou can't really damage the pit fiend, so eventually the pit fiend will tear the other apart. Once Lord Davion has carried the battle on the voller, he teleports down to watch the glabrezou and the pit fiend struggle. <<The Twilight Elf was not on the voller. Nor is the key, and the glabrezou does not have it either. I cannot sense its emanation here. I suspect the Twilight Elf carried it forward on foot, with both the voller and the glabrezou as additional diversions.>></p><p></p><p>Alistair talks to the tree, explaining what he's trying to do as he touches the ground and reaches out. "I'm trying to find a very powerful psionic object, that I believe has moved through the city sewers, and has now exited and is traveling away. Can you help me find it?"</p><p></p><p>He gets an imprecise sense of "west," almost immediately, and relays that to the rest of the group.</p><p></p><p>Kit goes to Lord Silverleaves to ask him if he can search for the key, despite his injuries.</p><p></p><p>"One of the great keys, you say. My people didn't tend to make them, but we're certainly aware of them. And you think the Twilight Elf took it to the west? Let me see. He is a master of deception, but perhaps..." He focuses and concentrates for two hours, by which point the pit fiend has finished tearing the glabrezou apart.</p><p></p><p><<I always wondered which would win in a fight between those two creatures. Now I know.>></p><p></p><p>The pit fiend emerges from the river, cleaning gobbets of glabrezou off its claws, teeth, and tail. It smiles at Lord Davion, and says, "And that's how it is done," with a great deal of satisfaction.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Dame Brionna says to Dame Agatha. "We need to destroy the demonic gate, now that you have a chance to examine it thoroughly."</p><p></p><p>"Indeed, it must be destroyed, otherwise anything on the abyssal side can simply pass through."</p><p></p><p>"Whatever resources you need, Dame Agatha."</p><p></p><p>"Do you have any pure diamonds? We do not normally maintain them, because we don't use unbound sigils. It's insane. You never do that with devils, to say nothing about demons."</p><p></p><p>"I suspect we can donate some from the treasury."</p><p></p><p>"Good, get the mortar and pestle, and a couple of my assistants, and we'll get to work on it. We'll get rid of it as quickly as we can. Hmm. I feel the pit fiend being proud of himself. He must have finished off that glabrezou."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you. I'll post a bunch of guards here until that's done."</p><p></p><p>Kit and Alistair work on assembling a team of people to respond once Grandmaster Farsensor has a location for them.</p><p></p><p>Kit sends, <<Let's see--what kinds of people would be best to oppose him? Probably more paladins...>></p><p></p><p><<Your grace,>> queries Dame Brionna. <<Do I have permission to engage this fight.>></p><p></p><p><<Yes.>></p><p></p><p><<Thank you. Stay at the palace.>></p><p></p><p><<Lord Davion, would you have any objection if we asked Princess Curinirim whether any of her shall we say champions wish to join in on this?>></p><p></p><p><<That might be wise.>></p><p></p><p><<I am happy being the third rank,>> adds Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p><<Her general would be useful.>></p><p></p><p><<Also, may I requisition a banner?>></p><p></p><p><<By all means,>> replies Alistair. <<Also, I will play you a song before you depart. And we will ask Bishop waters to send the most combat capable priest from the City. We'll also have other priests cast Death Ward on all the people who are going.>></p><p></p><p><<That makes sense. We're not trying to be subtle about this, are we, once we figure out where he is?>> asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p><<Is Lord Davion of House Aufaulgautharim, accompanied by a paladin bearing a banner that burns with the Light of the Sun, accompanied by a general of House Curinirim subtle?>></p><p></p><p><<I know, but I'm trying to pick which banner and some of the banners are more subtle than others.>></p><p></p><p><<I don't think subtlety is something we need to worry about. We need to worry about whether we can catch them. But we should also do a divination shortly before they leave to try to find out if there's anything they need to do in pursuit.>></p><p></p><p><<I think I'm going to take the Banner of the Sun's Wrath.>></p><p></p><p><<Dame Brionna, don't get yourself killed if you can avoid it.>></p><p></p><p><<No, that's one of the reasons why I'm carrying the Banner.>></p><p></p><p><<And we should get them an archmage. Whoever the best we can muster is.>></p><p></p><p><<How about Ellard Sheffield?>> suggests Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>They reach out to Princess Curinirim's general, who they have previously discussed hunting the shielded voller with, and they tell him that we have captured that voller but its captain, as it were, is still at large and that they hope to hunt him soon.</p><p></p><p>Shortly after they send these messages, the people who guard the area where teleports can arrive report to them that a very elegant elf in very, very expensive looking armor has appeared. They call for him to be sent in, and shortly thereafter he will come in wearing his battle armor, which of course is laen from head to foot.</p><p></p><p>"The possibility of killing him is tempting, though it would be a difficult task. He is a wily character. I would not trust it yet, but I'm here, Lord Davion."</p><p></p><p>"We must try. He's very powerful. He has not the power of his master, but he has been known to coerce powerful warriors into slime molds."</p><p></p><p>"A particularly gruesome fate for them. My Lord David, I am ready, when you are as well. I gather we are taking some other people with us?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, we'll engage with them!"</p><p></p><p>"I believe I can at least protect myself," says Dame Brionna. "And this banner may aid us all."</p><p></p><p>"I could not deny you the right to do this combat. This fellow bedevils my mistress greatly, as I know he does your master. And you, Your Majesty, it is good to see you again."</p><p></p><p>The results of the Divination are delivered: "Worry not for the man, it is not given to you to kill him. Worry for the item, which is given to kill you later."</p><p></p><p>"So incapacitate the elf, and take the key," interprets Kit.</p><p></p><p>"And we can always hope that means that it's not our fate to kill him, but the Lord General's instead," says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"We must try," replies the Lord General with a grim half-smile.</p><p></p><p>"Lord General, I wish that I could accompany you," says Alistair, studiously ignoring the appalled reaction on the general's face that momentarily appears before it is smoothed out. "But please, listen to the song that I composed about this hunt." Alistair plays and sings, and because he is bolstering a Noldor and a Twilight Elf, he includes psionic flourishes in the song as well as magical ones.</p><p></p><p>When Alistair finishes the song, they applaud politely, and the general sends to Lord Davion, <<Remarkably close to proficient for the younger races.>></p><p></p><p><<Oh, yes, he's quite good, in my opinion.>></p><p></p><p>Kit, of course, hears that clearly in her mind, and relays it with amusement over the mindlink. <<My lord Alistair will take that as the compliment it was intended as.>></p><p></p><p><<Really, if I can get close to what the elves consider adequate, that's a good day.>></p><p></p><p>By this time, Dustin has gotten back to the castle, and they have gotten the signature from him.</p><p></p><p>"I still recognize it," says Lord Davion. "I wonder if this isn't a clone. Well, enough time for that later."</p><p></p><p>"As I believe we have mentioned to you before, we believe that it is."</p><p></p><p>"I think you believe correctly. Unfortunate. I wonder how many of them there are."</p><p></p><p>Lord Silverleaves projects a map into Kit's mind. "That's as far as I can follow him. The key vanished at that point. I think it must have been placed in lead."</p><p></p><p>"Well, he's still moving. He can't teleport with it. We know his location. Let's get some people to him."</p><p></p><p>"Let us go, and they will go to a teleporting area and follow the map at the same time."</p><p></p><p><<Do we know how large it is?>> asks Alistair</p><p></p><p><<Yes, a fairly small item, perhaps half a cubit in length, at most, some of them smaller, made of laen.>></p><p></p><p><<So that means that it has to be a fairly large lead casket, perhaps the size of a breadbox. We can have people locate object on the casket. Because a lead casket can still be located, even though you can't locate something within it.>></p><p></p><p>They plan on organizing large numbers of priests, spread out in a search pattern--100 priests of the minimum power to Locate Object can cover a square mile, and they can move while detecting.</p><p></p><p>"It's very likely that the priests who end up closest to the elf will end up getting killed in the process," says Alistair. "But we'll try to raise them afterwards, and as soon as we find the object, the team can go after the object."</p><p></p><p>While they implement these plans, the sexton comes grumbling in.</p><p></p><p>"Your Most Imperial Majesty. I never hoped to see you. Which is not the same thing as saying, I hoped never to see you, but you know."</p><p></p><p>Alistair will, in a not particularly imposing way, reach out and take the sexton's hands in his own. "We thank you for your service to the Empire and the Church."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you, Your Majesty. They killed him, they did. My priest."</p><p></p><p>"We know."</p><p></p><p>"And they broke the speculum."</p><p></p><p>"Was there an object of crystal visible within the speculum?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, Father thought it was an artifact of the Church."</p><p></p><p>"It is, in a sense."</p><p></p><p>Kit explains, "It was given to the Church as a gift, many generations again, and it was more powerful than anyone realized."</p><p></p><p>"Well, they stole it, they did."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, and we're working on getting it back. But anything you could tell us about it would be very helpful."</p><p></p><p>"On midwinter night, it would shine every year."</p><p></p><p>"Just at midwinter?"</p><p></p><p>"Just midwinter night. We thought that was the divine power of Glordiadel as the Sun began to return demonstrating preeminence." He struggles with the last word, but he gets it out. "There is one other thing. Sometimes, when the sick pray in front of the speculum, sometime they were healed, but there was always a change in them."</p><p></p><p>"What kind of change?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, I remember one man, crippled from birth, with a broken back when he was a baby, you know, what he does is he prayed earnestly for 30 days, and his back was healed. But he grew three feet-- he's the biggest man in the city! The others happened before my time. I've heard the story of an old lady, who could not walk, neither in town nor in field, 'cause of her feet, and then she could, but then she could not stop dancing for 10 weeks. That was before my time. Didn't happen often, but it's been happening for hundreds of years. We even got small numbers of pilgrims who came to pray in front of the speculum. It was good money for the parish, begging your pardon."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, quite understood." Alistair continues over the mindlink, <<That's all consistent with Goldurim-style redaction. Healing, but also changing and morphing things. And the changing and morphing things style of redaction is really what Goldurim is most famous for.>></p><p></p><p><<I was just thinking that,>> agrees Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>Kit sends a message to Lord Davion, checking whether Midwinters is a special day for the Noldor.</p><p></p><p><<Nothing of importance, certainly nothing that I would expect to make a Noldor key glow. The legend is that it was stolen. I do not know why that would make it glow on Midwinters night.>></p><p></p><p><<There can't possibly be a Glordiadelian saint of Thievery, can there?>> asks Alistair.</p><p></p><p><<Maybe there is now...>> adds Kit.</p><p></p><p><<I mean, if this is a holy theft, this could be an actual relic of the Church now...>></p><p></p><p><<Which may mean that it's a very good idea to have me along, frankly,>> adds Dame Brionna. <<Along with our navy, but...>></p><p></p><p>"Your Eminence," Alistair says to the Archbishop, after they call him back in, "Would it be possible for you to travel to that that parish that you wish to go to now and also check, and you might do this yourself, or if you think there is someone who might be more suited, I think there may be a particular blessing of an unknown saint of Glordiadel at that parish. If you might be able to reach out and seek contact with the saint..."</p><p></p><p>"If you could give me a name, it would be most helpful."</p><p></p><p>Kit sends over the mindlink, <<I'm going to send some of my people to just sort of be around. Maybe it will recognize another thief who's working for a good cause. Some of my most devout thieves.>></p><p></p><p><<Ask around among the knowledgeable storytelling elders of the guild about whether there are any guild legends of a holy thief, or of a profoundly devout supremely masterful thief, from Canberry City.>></p><p></p><p><<I will.>></p><p></p><p>A little while later, Kit is told of a legend of a holy thief. They say that a few hundred years ago, there was the legendary three-eyed man. He was guild master for a while, then went off on a holy mission and when he returned, he dissolved. <<I'm trying to get more information on that but yes, his given name was Reuben. So, Reuben the Three-eyed Man.>></p><p></p><p>After a little while, she has only a handful more details. When he returned, it is said that he dissolved, that he just fell apart into motes of light and disappeared.</p><p></p><p><<That's sounds like ascension,>> says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p><<Yes, it does, but one doesn't normally ascend just because they're a saint. So that might mean that his blessedness preserved him from, for example, traps or whathaveyou that would have killed a normal mortal so that he could finish out his last mission before dying.>></p><p></p><p><<Or he suffered some kind of harm when he was in Goldurim's domain.>></p><p></p><p><<Or indeed, that he may have died in the attempt, and then miraculously succeeded after his death. I think we have discovered St. Reuben the Three-Eyed.>></p><p></p><p><<Patron Saint of Righteous Thievery! This is really excellent,>> gushes Kit. <<I mean, now we know who we're rededicating the church to when it gets reconsecrated...>></p><p></p><p><<One suggests that it might be appropriate for you to endow a church or a chapel for him in Lyneham...>></p><p></p><p><<I think so.>></p><p></p><p><<And the other thing: the Third Eye.>> notes Dame Brionna. <<Suggests to me that he might have been psionic.>></p><p></p><p><<Even better. And that would help explain how he was able to survive in the Goldurim realm, and how he was able to find the key and hold on to it, if he was psionic and communicating with it.>></p><p></p><p><<If that's not simply that his third eye was open in the metaphoric sense, that also suggests that he may have not been entirely human.>></p><p>[End Session 150]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8939243, member: 7030144"] [Session 150, cont'd] Father Waters brings the Archbishop to Kit. "Your grace." "My lady. How can I help? Father Waters believes there is a problem of significance." "Yes. There was a powerful Noldor artifact in a church in the lower quarter. It was stolen by a group--we suspect by the Twilight Elf allied with the enemy that we have been fighting for the last some time. They have summoned a group of demons that killed the parish priest and the guards that were patrolling that area. The Knights of Valor have been summoned, and they are in pursuit right now. The body of the late priest is being brought to the Cathedral. The people of that parish are going to be very upset and will be looking for solace, so there's that, and then also the great unholiness that has been brought into the City. That area will need to be cleansed and reconsecrated." "I will go personally." "We ask that you not do that quite yet until the area has been secured." "But the people need..." "The area will be secured very quickly, if I am correct in what's about to happen. So please don't go immediately, but as soon as it is safe for you to go, we will let you know. And thank you." "Your grace. I'll just wait out here then." Kit has one of the pages get the archbishop whatever he wants to eat and drink. Father Waters remains with Kit. "Our very handsome young archbishop... the people love him. He reminds the old people of their child, and the young people of their brother or parent. It's working for him." "Good. Considering what's going on in the City right now, the more devotion people have to the face of Glordiadel and to the leadership, the better." * * * In the tunnels, the tracker says, "Dame, we're nearly at the entrance!" Nearly at the same moment, the front rank of her guards are engaged by the vrocks, which spray bursts of spores at them and then rip into them. Several fall almost immediately. Just outside, the voller filled with paladins approaches the mouth of the sewer onto the river. Suddenly, an invisibility shield drops from a Noldor war schooner, which fires three death lances at the voller, inflicting substantial structural damage as well as killing many of the sailors. The ship is still flying, but only barely. The captain concludes he has two options: try to make a controlled landing or attempt to ram to allow the paladins to start a boarding action. He swings his voller around and rams the war schooner. His ship is falling apart as he rams, but two ranks of the paladins can make it across, which is enough to get 24 of the 25 Knights of Valor across. One of the two surviving crew members also leaps across as the captain, the remaining living crew member, the last paladin, and the dead bodies on the broken voller crash to the ground, killing at least the crew member and the captain. Dame Brionna transmits through the mindlink, <<We've engaged the vrocks. Heavy fighting here, but no sign of the demon commander.>> <<Likely a rearguard to slow you down while it tries to escape, then.>> A runner gives Alistair a report about the engagement between the vollers. Alistair says to Lord Davion, who accompanied him to the courtyard, "There's an excellent chance that that Twilight Elf who's been giving you trouble is on the deck of that voller, where those paladins are." "I will join the paladins. Do not send additional wooden ships-- as long as the death lance is operational, they will be slaughtered like sheep, and you need some sky navy." "Understood." Lord Davion heads rapidly towards a point where he can teleport. <<If you can use your connections, Alistair, to find any place where we should be heading once we've dealt with this group...>> sends Dame Brionna, forgetting in the intensity of the combat to use an honorific. <<That voller was almost certainly planning on picking up the key when the demon exited the outlet, but I'll see if I can sense anything else.>> Back at the battle, the pit fiend uses its innate ability to teleport without error to teleport past the vrocks. It runs forward, hunting the officer, while taunting it in Abyssal: describing demons as weak and stupid, saying that it was killing demons back when that meant something, and so forth. Dame Brionna smites the vrock on one side with two smites and a normal blow. The erinyes throw their entangling ropes, and miss. The clerics each cast Dismissal. The two unwounded vrocks make their saves, but the badly wounded one decides to cut its losses and disappears entirely. The psion flings an energy bolt, dealing 13 damage. One vrock continues attacking the badly wounded paladins in the front rank. The other shrieks, stunning some of the various combatants. Two of the wizards cast Shout, inflicting a bunch of damage on the vrocks. One vrock saves both times, but the other doesn't. The other casts Confusion on one of the vrocks, causing it to flee at best possible speed. Outside, there is a flash on the deck of the ship as Lord Davion appears. At almost the same moment the glabrezou exits the outlet from the sewers, just as the Noldor appears and unleashes his aura of awe. The glabrezou sees this, and leaps into the river below. The pit fiend, chasing after it, doesn't hesitate at all to dive in after it, hoping to grapple the glabrezou and tear it to pieces. Dame Brionna strikes the last vrock several times, though not smiting to save her smites for the officer. The clerics then cast soundburst on it three times. The vrock, on its last legs but being a vile and hateful creature, tries to take someone with it, hitting a badly wounded paladin with both claws, a bite, and a talon, enough to kill another paladin outright. One wizard casts confusion again, but does not make it through spell resistance this time. The last standing paladin smites again, killing the last vrock, which says in Abyssal as it falls, "The Queen will return!" Dame Brionna pushes forward, while shouting for the clerics to keep the rest of the group alive. Back on the deck of the ship, the battle is robust. The crew is a mixture of drow and uruks, but Lord Davion can cut through them, especially reinforced by the paladins. Meanwhile, the glabrezou and the pit fiend struggle. The glabrezou can't really damage the pit fiend, so eventually the pit fiend will tear the other apart. Once Lord Davion has carried the battle on the voller, he teleports down to watch the glabrezou and the pit fiend struggle. <<The Twilight Elf was not on the voller. Nor is the key, and the glabrezou does not have it either. I cannot sense its emanation here. I suspect the Twilight Elf carried it forward on foot, with both the voller and the glabrezou as additional diversions.>> Alistair talks to the tree, explaining what he's trying to do as he touches the ground and reaches out. "I'm trying to find a very powerful psionic object, that I believe has moved through the city sewers, and has now exited and is traveling away. Can you help me find it?" He gets an imprecise sense of "west," almost immediately, and relays that to the rest of the group. Kit goes to Lord Silverleaves to ask him if he can search for the key, despite his injuries. "One of the great keys, you say. My people didn't tend to make them, but we're certainly aware of them. And you think the Twilight Elf took it to the west? Let me see. He is a master of deception, but perhaps..." He focuses and concentrates for two hours, by which point the pit fiend has finished tearing the glabrezou apart. <<I always wondered which would win in a fight between those two creatures. Now I know.>> The pit fiend emerges from the river, cleaning gobbets of glabrezou off its claws, teeth, and tail. It smiles at Lord Davion, and says, "And that's how it is done," with a great deal of satisfaction. Meanwhile, Dame Brionna says to Dame Agatha. "We need to destroy the demonic gate, now that you have a chance to examine it thoroughly." "Indeed, it must be destroyed, otherwise anything on the abyssal side can simply pass through." "Whatever resources you need, Dame Agatha." "Do you have any pure diamonds? We do not normally maintain them, because we don't use unbound sigils. It's insane. You never do that with devils, to say nothing about demons." "I suspect we can donate some from the treasury." "Good, get the mortar and pestle, and a couple of my assistants, and we'll get to work on it. We'll get rid of it as quickly as we can. Hmm. I feel the pit fiend being proud of himself. He must have finished off that glabrezou." "Thank you. I'll post a bunch of guards here until that's done." Kit and Alistair work on assembling a team of people to respond once Grandmaster Farsensor has a location for them. Kit sends, <<Let's see--what kinds of people would be best to oppose him? Probably more paladins...>> <<Your grace,>> queries Dame Brionna. <<Do I have permission to engage this fight.>> <<Yes.>> <<Thank you. Stay at the palace.>> <<Lord Davion, would you have any objection if we asked Princess Curinirim whether any of her shall we say champions wish to join in on this?>> <<That might be wise.>> <<I am happy being the third rank,>> adds Dame Brionna. <<Her general would be useful.>> <<Also, may I requisition a banner?>> <<By all means,>> replies Alistair. <<Also, I will play you a song before you depart. And we will ask Bishop waters to send the most combat capable priest from the City. We'll also have other priests cast Death Ward on all the people who are going.>> <<That makes sense. We're not trying to be subtle about this, are we, once we figure out where he is?>> asks Dame Brionna. <<Is Lord Davion of House Aufaulgautharim, accompanied by a paladin bearing a banner that burns with the Light of the Sun, accompanied by a general of House Curinirim subtle?>> <<I know, but I'm trying to pick which banner and some of the banners are more subtle than others.>> <<I don't think subtlety is something we need to worry about. We need to worry about whether we can catch them. But we should also do a divination shortly before they leave to try to find out if there's anything they need to do in pursuit.>> <<I think I'm going to take the Banner of the Sun's Wrath.>> <<Dame Brionna, don't get yourself killed if you can avoid it.>> <<No, that's one of the reasons why I'm carrying the Banner.>> <<And we should get them an archmage. Whoever the best we can muster is.>> <<How about Ellard Sheffield?>> suggests Dame Brionna. They reach out to Princess Curinirim's general, who they have previously discussed hunting the shielded voller with, and they tell him that we have captured that voller but its captain, as it were, is still at large and that they hope to hunt him soon. Shortly after they send these messages, the people who guard the area where teleports can arrive report to them that a very elegant elf in very, very expensive looking armor has appeared. They call for him to be sent in, and shortly thereafter he will come in wearing his battle armor, which of course is laen from head to foot. "The possibility of killing him is tempting, though it would be a difficult task. He is a wily character. I would not trust it yet, but I'm here, Lord Davion." "We must try. He's very powerful. He has not the power of his master, but he has been known to coerce powerful warriors into slime molds." "A particularly gruesome fate for them. My Lord David, I am ready, when you are as well. I gather we are taking some other people with us?" "Oh, we'll engage with them!" "I believe I can at least protect myself," says Dame Brionna. "And this banner may aid us all." "I could not deny you the right to do this combat. This fellow bedevils my mistress greatly, as I know he does your master. And you, Your Majesty, it is good to see you again." The results of the Divination are delivered: "Worry not for the man, it is not given to you to kill him. Worry for the item, which is given to kill you later." "So incapacitate the elf, and take the key," interprets Kit. "And we can always hope that means that it's not our fate to kill him, but the Lord General's instead," says Dame Brionna. "We must try," replies the Lord General with a grim half-smile. "Lord General, I wish that I could accompany you," says Alistair, studiously ignoring the appalled reaction on the general's face that momentarily appears before it is smoothed out. "But please, listen to the song that I composed about this hunt." Alistair plays and sings, and because he is bolstering a Noldor and a Twilight Elf, he includes psionic flourishes in the song as well as magical ones. When Alistair finishes the song, they applaud politely, and the general sends to Lord Davion, <<Remarkably close to proficient for the younger races.>> <<Oh, yes, he's quite good, in my opinion.>> Kit, of course, hears that clearly in her mind, and relays it with amusement over the mindlink. <<My lord Alistair will take that as the compliment it was intended as.>> <<Really, if I can get close to what the elves consider adequate, that's a good day.>> By this time, Dustin has gotten back to the castle, and they have gotten the signature from him. "I still recognize it," says Lord Davion. "I wonder if this isn't a clone. Well, enough time for that later." "As I believe we have mentioned to you before, we believe that it is." "I think you believe correctly. Unfortunate. I wonder how many of them there are." Lord Silverleaves projects a map into Kit's mind. "That's as far as I can follow him. The key vanished at that point. I think it must have been placed in lead." "Well, he's still moving. He can't teleport with it. We know his location. Let's get some people to him." "Let us go, and they will go to a teleporting area and follow the map at the same time." <<Do we know how large it is?>> asks Alistair <<Yes, a fairly small item, perhaps half a cubit in length, at most, some of them smaller, made of laen.>> <<So that means that it has to be a fairly large lead casket, perhaps the size of a breadbox. We can have people locate object on the casket. Because a lead casket can still be located, even though you can't locate something within it.>> They plan on organizing large numbers of priests, spread out in a search pattern--100 priests of the minimum power to Locate Object can cover a square mile, and they can move while detecting. "It's very likely that the priests who end up closest to the elf will end up getting killed in the process," says Alistair. "But we'll try to raise them afterwards, and as soon as we find the object, the team can go after the object." While they implement these plans, the sexton comes grumbling in. "Your Most Imperial Majesty. I never hoped to see you. Which is not the same thing as saying, I hoped never to see you, but you know." Alistair will, in a not particularly imposing way, reach out and take the sexton's hands in his own. "We thank you for your service to the Empire and the Church." "Thank you, Your Majesty. They killed him, they did. My priest." "We know." "And they broke the speculum." "Was there an object of crystal visible within the speculum?" "Yes, Father thought it was an artifact of the Church." "It is, in a sense." Kit explains, "It was given to the Church as a gift, many generations again, and it was more powerful than anyone realized." "Well, they stole it, they did." "Yes, and we're working on getting it back. But anything you could tell us about it would be very helpful." "On midwinter night, it would shine every year." "Just at midwinter?" "Just midwinter night. We thought that was the divine power of Glordiadel as the Sun began to return demonstrating preeminence." He struggles with the last word, but he gets it out. "There is one other thing. Sometimes, when the sick pray in front of the speculum, sometime they were healed, but there was always a change in them." "What kind of change?" "Well, I remember one man, crippled from birth, with a broken back when he was a baby, you know, what he does is he prayed earnestly for 30 days, and his back was healed. But he grew three feet-- he's the biggest man in the city! The others happened before my time. I've heard the story of an old lady, who could not walk, neither in town nor in field, 'cause of her feet, and then she could, but then she could not stop dancing for 10 weeks. That was before my time. Didn't happen often, but it's been happening for hundreds of years. We even got small numbers of pilgrims who came to pray in front of the speculum. It was good money for the parish, begging your pardon." "Oh, quite understood." Alistair continues over the mindlink, <<That's all consistent with Goldurim-style redaction. Healing, but also changing and morphing things. And the changing and morphing things style of redaction is really what Goldurim is most famous for.>> <<I was just thinking that,>> agrees Dame Brionna. Kit sends a message to Lord Davion, checking whether Midwinters is a special day for the Noldor. <<Nothing of importance, certainly nothing that I would expect to make a Noldor key glow. The legend is that it was stolen. I do not know why that would make it glow on Midwinters night.>> <<There can't possibly be a Glordiadelian saint of Thievery, can there?>> asks Alistair. <<Maybe there is now...>> adds Kit. <<I mean, if this is a holy theft, this could be an actual relic of the Church now...>> <<Which may mean that it's a very good idea to have me along, frankly,>> adds Dame Brionna. <<Along with our navy, but...>> "Your Eminence," Alistair says to the Archbishop, after they call him back in, "Would it be possible for you to travel to that that parish that you wish to go to now and also check, and you might do this yourself, or if you think there is someone who might be more suited, I think there may be a particular blessing of an unknown saint of Glordiadel at that parish. If you might be able to reach out and seek contact with the saint..." "If you could give me a name, it would be most helpful." Kit sends over the mindlink, <<I'm going to send some of my people to just sort of be around. Maybe it will recognize another thief who's working for a good cause. Some of my most devout thieves.>> <<Ask around among the knowledgeable storytelling elders of the guild about whether there are any guild legends of a holy thief, or of a profoundly devout supremely masterful thief, from Canberry City.>> <<I will.>> A little while later, Kit is told of a legend of a holy thief. They say that a few hundred years ago, there was the legendary three-eyed man. He was guild master for a while, then went off on a holy mission and when he returned, he dissolved. <<I'm trying to get more information on that but yes, his given name was Reuben. So, Reuben the Three-eyed Man.>> After a little while, she has only a handful more details. When he returned, it is said that he dissolved, that he just fell apart into motes of light and disappeared. <<That's sounds like ascension,>> says Dame Brionna. <<Yes, it does, but one doesn't normally ascend just because they're a saint. So that might mean that his blessedness preserved him from, for example, traps or whathaveyou that would have killed a normal mortal so that he could finish out his last mission before dying.>> <<Or he suffered some kind of harm when he was in Goldurim's domain.>> <<Or indeed, that he may have died in the attempt, and then miraculously succeeded after his death. I think we have discovered St. Reuben the Three-Eyed.>> <<Patron Saint of Righteous Thievery! This is really excellent,>> gushes Kit. <<I mean, now we know who we're rededicating the church to when it gets reconsecrated...>> <<One suggests that it might be appropriate for you to endow a church or a chapel for him in Lyneham...>> <<I think so.>> <<And the other thing: the Third Eye.>> notes Dame Brionna. <<Suggests to me that he might have been psionic.>> <<Even better. And that would help explain how he was able to survive in the Goldurim realm, and how he was able to find the key and hold on to it, if he was psionic and communicating with it.>> <<If that's not simply that his third eye was open in the metaphoric sense, that also suggests that he may have not been entirely human.>> [End Session 150] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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