Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8952992" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 153, cont'd]</p><p>"Sorry to interrupt," says Dame Brionna, "but to clarify, is Urlodo also known as the Many-Tongued Worm?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, he's known by that as well. He's got a dozen titles with the name 'Worm' in them."</p><p></p><p>"I ask because, looking back at some of our earlier things, there's a note that the Many-Tongued Worm has connections to at least three of the outer duchies of Canberry."</p><p></p><p>"Really?" asks Kit. "How did we find that out?"</p><p></p><p>"We found that out from the Grand Duchess of Ergmoth, who pointed out that their Inquisition had sacrificed 9,900 members of the cult of the Many-Tongued Worm to Paranswarm. She thought that our lack of an Inquisition was not letting us be aware of the fact that there were three separate factions of the cult with connections to the outer duchies. We were told that scribes would forward us to us the most relevant confessions and names."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, but that must have been when the courier service was still not delivering things," says Kit in frustration.</p><p></p><p>"We'll have to request new copies," says Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"She also believed the cult of the Many-Tongued Worm had a connection to the rise of the island of the Eastern Sea..."</p><p></p><p>"The Eldritch islands," comments Alistair. "We seem to have dropped that for a while, but now we've verified it."</p><p></p><p>"I had forgotten this!" Dame Brionna explains. "I had a note when we learned about that... I remembered a servant in my own household when I was a child, cursing the family in the name of the Many-Tongued Worm!"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, there's your answer about the Southlands," says Kit.</p><p></p><p>"My parents mentioned that his servants gathered at mountains of ebon and basalt, and his servants were not of the younger races."</p><p></p><p>"The island has been described as an island of ebon and basalt," notes Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"We were told of four centers for its followers. This is all useful information that we clearly didn't do as much with as we might have at the time. The eastern island, an island off the southern coast of Khamista, a mountain to the southeast of Drucien against the lands of the Skaven, and a center within the Arctic Circle."</p><p></p><p>"That's the area where there was the whole gate exploration!" responds Alistair in frustration at having missed this at the time. "Wait... this mountain near the Skaven lands... that hasn't been in our awareness at all..."</p><p></p><p>"That's not the same mountain as the island, right?"</p><p></p><p>"No, the Eldritch island we know of."</p><p></p><p>"The island off the south coast to Khamista. I feel like that's the one where we think what's his name fled to, right?"</p><p></p><p>"No, it's a different one. There's one that's near Mandrath, that is, an Eldritch island where some of the armies of Sytry fled to."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, that's what I was meaning."</p><p></p><p>"But it's different from the islands on which the anti-patriarch is. Incidentally, I had two additional thoughts about the anti-patriarch," rambles Alistair. "One is that if I got that brain infection thing when I was at Holy Cortose, then it's possible that the reason why the patriarch has been unwilling up to this point to formally excommunicate and cast out the anti-patriarch and his followers, thus allowing the schism to come into the public, is that the same magical-psionic effect may be impairing the ability of the Sytryites to do that. Also, while a set of islands near Purdun and Tarhanna is not a very strategic location in most regards, if the hope was to have one of those countries overthrown from Glordiadelian to Sytryite rule, at least in part, and then seize that as part of the new Sytryan Temple, and thus actually serving Arthranax, then it would make perfect sense to want to be in that area. If roughly a third of the population of Tarhanna is Sytryite, there are surely individual islands that are 50 or 60 or 70% Sytryan."</p><p></p><p>"All right," says Dame Brionna, "but what about this mountain? I'm worried if there's another base we don't know about."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I don't disagree, but we don't know where that is specifically. We should ask the Skree if they know about that mountain."</p><p></p><p>"The other thing that's more relevant for Kit, is this information about what the Grand Duchess was uncovering. There were Many-Tongued Worm people [in the outer Duchies? Notes unclear.] Which means, I think we need some people following up on that."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, we do."</p><p></p><p>Alistair says, "I think I remember something else. One of the assassins that were sent that attacked at that voller's arrival, that tried to kill somebody as they were arriving, one of them invoked the Worm or something while they were falling to the ground, before they splattered messily because the ties between the land and the Archduke did not allow them to pass into the land..."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, this was all from before you got married."</p><p></p><p>"A long time ago," agrees Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, at least a year or so," agrees Alistair. [This is something of a joke, because while about a year ago in game time, it was something like 15 years ago in real time.]</p><p></p><p>"There are also gray humans, who we fought at one point, and they invoked the 'Great Worm,' calling 'Lend me your strength.'"</p><p></p><p>"So what kind of person were they?" asks Kit. "They clearly weren't actually humans. Who were they?"</p><p></p><p>"More or less still in human form. They were dock workers. This is interesting. They cast a spell by invoking the Lord of Cleansing Flame Cartaluma. They then hit you with a massive flame strike."</p><p></p><p>"Cartaluma is another one of the Six," notes Alistair. "So that strongly suggests, then, that Urlodo has, in fact, become paramount among the Six, if there are followers of the others of the Six who nonetheless look to Urlodo as a higher authority."</p><p></p><p>"Or could Urlodo have taken over Cartaluma's portfolio?"</p><p></p><p>"No," says the Reverend Canon, "he could power himself to a point where they could use another's power in his service, but not to have actually subsumed another of the Six entirely."</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna keeps reading out snippets of her notes. "The great Worm that Burrows... 'My library has more information, but when His Grace meets with the Glorious Light, he should ask.'"</p><p></p><p>"That would be when I was going to see the Patriarch."</p><p></p><p>"'It is without question that the Queen of Chaos was involved. She has never knelt to anyone. It will be playing with fire for Urlodo to be involved with her, even to release her from her prison.' The other, absolutely certain to be involved is an old rival of the Queen of the Succubi.' Which fits: that will be the Seductress, presumably."</p><p></p><p>Alistair says, "We definitely need to do our own searching in the Archduchy for people who are following this. We also need to ask the Skree if they know about the mountain."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, and maybe our dwarven allies as well."</p><p></p><p>"Indeed. And we also should ask both the Skree and our vassal Skaven if they know about Urlodo followers down there, warlord clans that are turning to follow Urlodo, and that sort of thing."</p><p></p><p>"The other thing that seems immediately relevant is that it seems like there might have been a good connection between people following the Cult of the Worm and Tusslefields, which is of course our large mining duchy and has an entrance to the Underdark."</p><p></p><p>"Where they may have also been diverting miners to the Great Mine," comments Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"So we also need to right reach out to Tusslefields," continues Dame Brionna, "and remember that over half the legions of Canberry contain Tusslefield soldiers."</p><p></p><p>"There's a difference between there being problems with a cult there, and everyone being a cultist."</p><p></p><p>"Yes," agrees Kit, "but Tusslefields being well known for supplying soldiers to the army makes it very, very easy for a cult to make sure that there are cultists well distributed among the legions."</p><p></p><p>"And the Tusslefields, we know, unusually married in from the Kingdom of Life."</p><p></p><p>"I think we need to call for Their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Tusslefields to come and visit us," says Alistair.</p><p></p><p>The Reverend Canon finally says, "May I be excused, Your Majesty?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, certainly. Thank you again."</p><p></p><p>As he departs, young Lord Brightspan informs the Council that Sister Ginerva Colombo, an expert in demonology from the seminary, is in an antechamber. They ask that she be immediately sent in.</p><p></p><p>[One of the players commented ooc, "I bet she has just one more question about demons."]</p><p></p><p>Sister Ginerva is a fairly short nun, not round but not slender either, in a full habit with no skimping on her part.</p><p></p><p>"Your Majesty and Holy Protector. I was surprised and delighted to be called upon to come and visit you."</p><p></p><p>"Sister, thank you for attending on us."</p><p></p><p>"I'm only a humble specialist in demonology. I never expected to see the inside of the palace."</p><p></p><p>"I wish that this were a social call based on your long and loyal service to the Lord of Light, instead of practical questions about your expertise, that so few share."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, that's very kind."</p><p></p><p>Young Lord Brightspan says to Kit through the mindlink, <<She's the stuff. There's more going on in her mind than just about anyone else I've seen.>></p><p></p><p><<That's good to know. Anything else unusual?>></p><p></p><p><<No, not really. She pinched my cheek...>></p><p></p><p>Kit relays that to the rest of the Council.</p><p></p><p>"The first thing is that we are piecing together who the collection of demons who are aligned with the Eldritch are."</p><p></p><p>"Very sane."</p><p></p><p>"And we believe that they are: the Lord of Rams; the Abomination of Shurr; the Queen of Chaos; Membriel, the Lord of Believable Lies; Urlodo; Jubilex, and then we're uncertain on the other one. Perhaps the Seductress. We know the Seductress is part of that, but we don't know whether she's being counted among the seven demon lords, and for that matter, the Abomination of Shurr is actually weak to be counted among that group of seven."</p><p></p><p>"It is. That was his hope, to become a greater demon lord, but he never succeeded."</p><p></p><p>"And so, if there are seven demon lords, then he should not actually be one of them."</p><p></p><p>"Correct."</p><p></p><p>"Would the Seductress count, do you think?"</p><p></p><p>"I don't think so. Her position is unique."</p><p></p><p>"Because of the whole Noldor-archdevil-demon princess progression."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, correct. I would be surprised if Jubilex is involved, if his fellow is not also involved, although to be fair, his fellow has been in prison for millennia."</p><p></p><p>"This is He Who Gnaws?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, Master of the Hungry Moon."</p><p></p><p>"Which moon is that?" asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"The Red."</p><p></p><p>"He no longer has a plane, though, so are they counting him? Well, they are counting the Queen. She no longer has a plane, either, but she does have tremendous influence throughout the Abyss, despite them trying to crush it out for centuries. He is also the Lord of Goats, and the Lord of Fungus. I've never understood that connection, but that's what all the books say."</p><p></p><p>"Wait. So he has the same title as Cyth-S'sug?" asks Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, Cyth-S'sug replaced him after he was imprisoned."</p><p></p><p>"Do they have an enmity, then?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, they hate each other. If one is involved, the other is not."</p><p></p><p>"In the same way as the enmity between, say, Malacat, and on the one hand, the Seductress, and, on the other hand, the Queen of Chaos."</p><p></p><p>"Correct."</p><p></p><p>"So that does somewhat suggest He Who Gnaws may be involved, and that then Cyth-S'sug might be not involved, and, in fact, might even be someone that can be mobilized against this."</p><p></p><p>"That is true. Does that give you all of the seven?"</p><p></p><p>"I only count six."</p><p></p><p>"If you were to try to make a determination through the use of spells, I would certainly consider the possibility that Zura is part of this. Lord of Cannibals."</p><p></p><p>"The Lord of Cannibals?" asks Dame Brionna. "There are enough of them to have a god?"</p><p></p><p>"It's a demon lord, not a god," clarifies Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, a demon lord. I would never consider them a god," Sister Ginerva says severely. "And possibly Deskaru: Lady of the Locust Host, of Infestation and Starvation. Those are the two that I think are most likely to be aligned with the others."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, all right," says Alistair. "Both of those seem like they might tie into this."</p><p></p><p>"Relevant portfolios," notes Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"How horribly unpleasant!" Alistair then frames the next question. "We have been wondering whether Urlodo may have, in fact, supplanted Borsh'tro as leader of the Six. We know that Borsh'tro is no longer considered a god, and it seems most likely that either that power was also seized by Arthranax, or that it has been taken by Urlodo. Do you know, or have any insight on that?"</p><p></p><p>"The Synod within the Church believes that Urlodo is in the process of elevating himself to Borsh'tro's position. We believe that, in fact, at the moment there is no god of Chaotic Evil. Borsh'tro has declined with part of his power being stolen, and frankly Urlodo is the only one of the Council of Six that is smart enough to steal from him. Urlodo, then, would be in the process of elevating himself and preparing to move into Borsh'tro's position, possibly without ever telling anyone officially."</p><p></p><p>"Is there anything that we could do to attempt to disrupt that? Because it seems that would actually be substantially more dangerous than Borsh'tro."</p><p></p><p>"That's the view of of the Synod. You are the Protector. Have you been made aware of the Synod?"</p><p></p><p>"No, this is the first I've heard it mentioned."</p><p></p><p>"The Synod is a group of sanctioned diabolists and demonologists. Not that we summon demons or devils, but that we study them across the temple, across the entire Church. Our duty it is to make ourselves fully aware of demonic and diabolic threats going forward, and to advise the patriarch on proper actions."</p><p></p><p>"Do you engage in active investigation and hunting of cults?"</p><p></p><p>"Hunting, no; investigation, yes. The example of the Temple of Paranswarm's Inquisition is not one to encourage us to take on the role of hunting cults."</p><p></p><p>"No. Our preferred approach, and I say this both as the Emperor of Southern Drucien and as the Protector, our preferred approach is for the Church to work with the secular authorities of Lord Glordiadel to identify such things and then for the secular authorities to deal with them through the regular courts and processes, and so forth. Certainly, a cultist can be hanged for following a proscribed religion, or can be put to death for murder or the like, but not in a 'this village is condemned because there was a cult within it' kind of way that the Inquisition would do."</p><p></p><p>"And does do, routinely."</p><p></p><p>"It must be the case that if we must allow cultists to escape so that we can avoid killing innocents, then that is our duty."</p><p></p><p>"I concur. With Your Majesty's permission, I will speak directly."</p><p></p><p>"Please."</p><p></p><p>"If Your Majesty wishes to root out cults within the greater Empire--I cannot speak for the Southern Kingdoms. I've not been there. The Church is newly established there. However, within the Archduchy, for the sake of the Light, start with Tusslefields."</p><p></p><p>"We have, in fact, just summoned the Duke and Duchess of Tusslefields, so that we may examine them and their household's connections."</p><p></p><p>"But tell us why you think that, though?" asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"A friend of mine--a member of the Synod-- several years ago uncovered a cult in one of the mining cities in Tusslefield, and managed to send a report to the Archduchess, shortly before he took an unexpected 500 foot fall off the side of a mountain. The report was never acted on. Her Grace was not well by then, and I'm sure it's buried somewhere in your archive. But those things spread, Dame."</p><p></p><p>Alistair thinks about this. "If I received a report that I didn't have the energy and capabilities to act upon about a problem in one of my vassals lands, my instinct as a way of dealing with it would be to tell my vassal about it, and have them deal with it. Do you know whether the Archduchess sent that report on to Tusslefields."</p><p></p><p>"It's very odd. As the Archduchess declined--your pardon, Your Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"Of course."</p><p></p><p>"She gathered things to herself more and more strongly. Near the end, she was not sharing things even with her closest confidants, to say nothing about nobles that she may not have completely trusted."</p><p></p><p>"She likely realized that there was a traitor in her inner circle, but had not identified her privy secretary as that traitor."</p><p></p><p>"I believe you're correct."</p><p></p><p>"Are you sure that the report reached her?" asks Kit.</p><p></p><p>"The private secretary could also have prevented it," says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"That is also possible."</p><p></p><p>"Or it could have gone astray on the road with the couriers," adds Kit.</p><p></p><p>"No," says Alistair. "It made it to Canberry City, because Sister Ginerva got a copy."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, we know that it entered the City. I do not know if the privy secretary forwarded it to her."</p><p></p><p>"Likely not."</p><p></p><p>"But even if she had, I do not think that at that time, Her Grace was any longer capable of action."</p><p></p><p>"We found records that she wanted us to have of military units--actually abroad-- that she viewed as being disloyal or corrupted. I wonder if she left other documents somewhere that we could find?"</p><p></p><p>"I do not know."</p><p></p><p>"The archivist?" suggest Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"It's almost more a matter of searching her personal chambers and the like. There was something in the throne. I wonder if there was anything in her chambers or bed or whathaveyou?"</p><p></p><p>"You don't use her chambers, right?" asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Of course not."</p><p></p><p>"Would you like me to get some of my people on that?" suggests Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I think that's absolutely necessary."</p><p></p><p>"I will choose the absolute, most discreet people I have."</p><p></p><p>"That would be good, because it is entirely plausible that there may be things of interest to the family that would best not be made public."</p><p></p><p>"You know, I've got a few who can't even read."</p><p></p><p>"Might not be a bad idea. I mean, we think we know everything that was going on with her privately at the time, and it was not at all scandalous, certainly by the standards of high nobility. We know she had a paramour after her last husband died, but nothing untoward there, but nonetheless."</p><p></p><p>"So I will delegate some very, very skilled, very discreet, illiterate people to go looking for these documents."</p><p></p><p>They also brief Sister Ginerva on the Great Mine and the chaos centaurs.</p><p></p><p>"Chaos centaurs? On this continent?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, the chaos centaurs were what got us investigating Urlodo to begin with, because if there were chaos centaurs here, he's the only one who is associated with them," explains Kit. "And once we started looking for signs of him, we found them everywhere."</p><p></p><p>"Are we missing any people under mysterious circumstances?" asks Sister Ginerva.</p><p></p><p>"Would we expect to be?" asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"No, but you can expect to be with Urlodo."</p><p></p><p>"Can you get more specific about the mysterious circumstances?" asks Kit. "We've had a lot."</p><p></p><p>"People simply disappearing."</p><p></p><p>"That sounds familiar..." says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"We have," agrees Kit. "But there's been so much going on that we just assumed that the disappearance was just a mystery that we hadn't solved yet."</p><p></p><p>"There was the dead end from the Treasurer, who was working for some cult and getting them... was it ruby chips, or something like that?" recalls Alistair. "And then got murdered with a very sophisticated set of murders to prevent him from being traceable. When they teleported, they torture the horse to death to create a psychic barrier to prevent tracing the teleport."</p><p></p><p>"One of the tribes of eums bears allegiance to Urlodo. They're not exactly demons, and they are on the prime, but normally only in the Shadowlands, in the same place the chaos centaurs are. They are consummate assassins."</p><p></p><p>"So that's why we were having trouble tracking them."</p><p></p><p>"I must admit, not that I knew much of them, but that I'd always thought of yellow eums as being like goblins, petty threats that that would attack occasionally, and that you could stick a sword in, and they die," comments Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"They are petty threats as long as they're seen. Their use of garroting, their usage of toxins, as well as poisons. I presume His Majesty knows the difference."</p><p></p><p>"Ingested versus injected?"</p><p></p><p>"Or sprayed. Their use of small animals to deliver poisons and toxins. Their ability to hide themselves in the ground and erupt onto their victims by total surprise in groups. They are not dangerous if you see them coming. They're very dangerous if you don't know they're there."</p><p></p><p>"That almost makes me wonder if some of the ones in the Shadowlands are deliberately used to make less well planned attacks, to make them appear less dangerous," muses Alistair.</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna notes an old prophecy they were given some time ago [2015 in real time]: "“Shining counselors will come. You must be cautious. Do not be fooled by devotion to the light. It is from light the worm will rise to strike. Words came to me: Nowhere better can falsehood lie than within the heart of truth. It seems nonsensical, does it not? And yet, that’s what came to me."</p><p></p><p>"From the Light that the Worm will rise to strike..." repeats Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Now, it seems so obvious that that was warning us about the Sytryites," Alistair says.</p><p></p><p>"In terms of disappearance, weren't we at some point investigating an aboleth?"</p><p></p><p>"That was in the western duchy, where the malaise was. We sent Lord Davion to talk to that aboleth and to sort things out, and I think he succeeded in doing so. That malaise has been lifted, I believe," responds Alistair. "I could certainly see Urlodo being interested in subverting aboleths, but they are typically extremely lawful."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, they are indeed," agrees Sister Ginerva.</p><p></p><p>"Are there other major servitors of Urlodo besides the chaos centaurs, the yellow eums, and the dhoyles?"</p><p></p><p>"Trueborn. Not all of them, but a significant number of their tribes."</p><p></p><p>"What are trueborn?"</p><p></p><p>"Human servants of Chaos. In fact, they would assert that they are of purer human lineage than nearly any other humans alive on the plane."</p><p></p><p>"What would that even mean?"</p><p></p><p>"That they have kept their line genetically pure among the tribes from the inception of Chaos, with no mixing with the elves, or fae, or halflings, demons, dragons... So there are none of those bits of other blood that so many of us have, or they think we have."</p><p></p><p>"So a bunch of racist zealots, then."</p><p></p><p>"A bunch of racist human zealots, yes."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, you know what they don't have then?" says Kit. "Any psionics."</p><p></p><p>"You're correct, and very little magic. What they have is clerical."</p><p></p><p>"Of course that, but nothing arcane, because they wouldn't want to have to deal with elves."</p><p></p><p>"Or dragons. Arcane power usually comes from either elves or dragons or both."</p><p></p><p>"But is that all the major servitors?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, those are all of Urlodo's major servitors."</p><p></p><p>"How much do we need to worry about the idea of there being dhoyles on Drucien?" asks Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"I do not know how they could have transported one. But. They could have brought a small one if they've brought chaos centaurs here and be trying to raise it here."</p><p></p><p>"Like maybe in a mine filled with fresia."</p><p></p><p>"That would be a good place for it, yes."</p><p></p><p>"This just gets better and better. Is there any reason to think that they would be able to subvert a non-Morgrathian balrog?"</p><p></p><p>"If they're not Morgrathian, it would depend on what he could offer them. There have been a couple of the balrogs that did not follow Lord Morgrath who have been taken into Chaos worship."</p><p></p><p>"There's apparently a balrog that serves an imprisoned Vala. One of the Valar that did not follow either Morgrath or Eiru, and that was then bound and imprisoned in the ground, and possibly with elven seals placed on it as part of that process, or possibly afterwards elven seals were placed to prevent it from escaping. The elves were a little bit unclear about that. They seem to have forgotten the details of what happened."</p><p></p><p>"Which is a little surprising," notes Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Well, but it was during the First Age. Elves don't think about things like that as well as they could. And there are things that the Eldar and the Noldor and their descendants can't remember properly, because the Kinslaying broke their memory. I don't know how that works, but I know that to be true. That's part of why the Eldron have more powers, that they remember things more completely as well as simply having more essence to draw upon. At least that's my understanding, from what various Eldar and Noldor have told me."</p><p></p><p>"That seems reasonable. However, if they have brought a dhoyle here, and are raising it in a mine full of fresia, with a possibly converted balrog, I know what they could offer the balrog. So do you, if you think about it."</p><p></p><p>"To free its master," Alistair responds.</p><p></p><p>"Yes. That if they gain sufficient power, they will free its master. Balrogs are very single-minded. That would win its loyalty."</p><p></p><p>"They probably wouldn't even be lying, because they would want to free that Vala just to distract us, if nothing else."</p><p></p><p>"Yes," says Sister Ginerva.</p><p></p><p>"Heck of a distraction..." says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"I'm not sure how you would shut that down."</p><p></p><p>"We've talked to the Hastur about them providing a trainee to assist us when we make an assault on some of the things around here. If there were a dhoyle, we might ask them if they could send someone more seasoned than that. I don't know who else could face it. I suppose the great elves that are not of the Hastur could also face a dhoyle, but I don't know if anything else can."</p><p></p><p>"Dhoyles can be killed, particularly when they're young, but balrogs, on the other hand... Do we know how powerful it is? Is it one of the Thirty?"</p><p></p><p>"No, it's not one of the Thirty. We know that there were two of them that were released from that mine. One remained in the mine, and is presumed to still be a threat there, but was bound in for many years, when the mine was sealed. The other one of them fought a Noldor lord and was destroyed. I think a Noldor lord-- might have been an Eldar. Princess Curinirim, if you are aware of her, asserted that she was fairly confident that she could kill that balrog, but did not seem certain of it."</p><p></p><p>"And she's arrogant, so..." says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"And a First Comer," notes Sister Ginerva.</p><p></p><p>"Yes."</p><p></p><p>"Well, that doesn't bode well. I suppose if you could take the outer fortification, you could seal them back in, but I'm not sure how. I'm not a military person. But if you seal them in, if they have any intention within the mine, they will probably finish it."</p><p></p><p>"Which means that we would have to seal them in with something capable of selling in the Vala at a minimum."</p><p></p><p>"Correct."</p><p></p><p>"And that presumes they can't burrow through the fresia in a different direction, which, with simple miners would seem difficult, but with a dhoyle... that's what dhoyles do."</p><p></p><p>"Or reach the Underdark, yes. I am uncertain how good it would be for them to reach the Underdark."</p><p></p><p>"I wonder if we could convince Lord Goldurim that there's some compelling reason that he needs to deal with this himself," muses Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, but that would involve talking to Lord Goldurim," notes Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, but if we manage to convince Lord Goldurim of this, then nothing bad could happen in the mine after he goes in."</p><p></p><p>"Then Lord Goldurim gets shut up in the mine as well!"</p><p></p><p>"Because either he wins or he loses, or ideally both."</p><p></p><p>"I'm not going to be doing that convincing," says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Which brings us back to it means we have to talk to Lord Goldurim, and I don't think anybody really wants to do that," responds Kit.</p><p></p><p>"No, we have been specifically advised never to do that," agrees Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, you should take that advice."</p><p></p><p>"But maybe we could send him a message. I don't know. I just always like having my enemies fight each other."</p><p></p><p>"No, that's great," says Kit. "Let's think of a different enemy that we can send down there."</p><p></p><p>"You have lots of enemies," Dame Brionna helpfully observes.</p><p></p><p>"Meanwhile, we also know that Lell, the Marchioness of Darkness, is hanging out in a brothel in Enclaves."</p><p></p><p>"There are more unusual places for her."</p><p></p><p>"As part of a deal with the Zorplona-Moriquendarim."</p><p></p><p>"But there may not be more unusual deals for her."</p><p></p><p>"We're concerned that she may try to seize the item of great lawful power underneath Enclaves."</p><p></p><p>"That would be a disaster," points out the demonologist.</p><p></p><p>"Does that seem like something that she might want to do?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, very reasonable. The amount of power it would give her in the Hells is substantial, but it would unbalance the north."</p><p></p><p>"Just so you know, the primary object giving stability to Enclaves is no longer there."</p><p></p><p>"That's not good."</p><p></p><p>"Well, no, it is good, it was necessary, but there's now only the balance between the object of great Law and the object of great Chaos. The actual object of stability and actual Neutrality is no longer present."</p><p></p><p>"And now they are balancing each other?"</p><p></p><p>"Poorly."</p><p></p><p>"Of course, they could not maintain a particularly stable balance.</p><p></p><p>"But enough!" says Kit.</p><p></p><p>"So if she is trying to get that, and she succeeds, it could be catastrophic."</p><p></p><p>"I see that, yes. Well, hopefully, they wrote a very solid contract. Probably not, but hopefully."</p><p></p><p>"I was going to say, anyone want to take bets on that? Oh, and their payment for this was viable seed to create a devil-Noldor hybrid thing."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, yes, that obviously gives them power as well, but not as much as the item of Law, and not as quickly. Who can we warn up there meaningfully?"</p><p></p><p>"We were thinking Meredith the Dazzling."</p><p></p><p>"Sensible, I think."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe Princess Curinirim, but I'm not sure that we can make her understand the danger. She seems to think that she can hold things together in Enclaves by sheer force of personality. I think she underestimates how unnatural enclaves's configuration is."</p><p></p><p>"Probably, probably. In Krashmere, they push everyone around wherever they want them, so the idea that people will naturally kill one another may not occur to her."</p><p></p><p>"Lovely! Do we have anything else for Sister Ginerva at this time?"</p><p></p><p>With no additional questions, they thank Sister Ginerva for speaking with her and dismiss her.</p><p></p><p>Shortly thereafter, Kit receives the first document found secreted in the late Archduchess's chambers. [Attached]</p><p></p><p>She shows it to the rest of the Council. "The Archduchess left this message to her heir, warning him that there was a traitor highly placed in the court. She suggested that he could use the life offering as a first cut--anyone who participated in that couldn't be the traitor."</p><p></p><p>"The life offering being used is ruthless," says Dame Brionna. "She must have given up on trying to stop the life offering."</p><p></p><p>"Well, we'll have plenty of time to change the culture," says Kit. "And Dame Brionna and I will set a good example."</p><p></p><p>Alistair nods agreement. "I believe that message would have been much more useful if we had gotten it on time. And clearly addressed to my father."</p><p></p><p>"Yep, it was to your father, who never got there," comments Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Honestly, he probably would have made a hash of all of this," observes Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"He would have charged bravely," says Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, he was very good at that part."</p><p>[End Session 153; with that, we're fully caught up to the present. As we play additional sessions, I'll resume posting, probably more or less on a MWF schedule. Because the current write-ups are quite long per session, I'll probably break them up into somewhat smaller chunks in the future--I just wanted to ring the bell of having caught up completely today. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Also, for people who are interested in such things, the Moriquendarim who dealt with Lilith to get the Marchioness in Enclaves are another group of PCs. Which means that much of this session was one group of PCs trying to do damage control for the dubious decisions of another group of PCs. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8952992, member: 7030144"] [Session 153, cont'd] "Sorry to interrupt," says Dame Brionna, "but to clarify, is Urlodo also known as the Many-Tongued Worm?" "Yes, he's known by that as well. He's got a dozen titles with the name 'Worm' in them." "I ask because, looking back at some of our earlier things, there's a note that the Many-Tongued Worm has connections to at least three of the outer duchies of Canberry." "Really?" asks Kit. "How did we find that out?" "We found that out from the Grand Duchess of Ergmoth, who pointed out that their Inquisition had sacrificed 9,900 members of the cult of the Many-Tongued Worm to Paranswarm. She thought that our lack of an Inquisition was not letting us be aware of the fact that there were three separate factions of the cult with connections to the outer duchies. We were told that scribes would forward us to us the most relevant confessions and names." "Oh, but that must have been when the courier service was still not delivering things," says Kit in frustration. "We'll have to request new copies," says Alistair. "She also believed the cult of the Many-Tongued Worm had a connection to the rise of the island of the Eastern Sea..." "The Eldritch islands," comments Alistair. "We seem to have dropped that for a while, but now we've verified it." "I had forgotten this!" Dame Brionna explains. "I had a note when we learned about that... I remembered a servant in my own household when I was a child, cursing the family in the name of the Many-Tongued Worm!" "Oh, there's your answer about the Southlands," says Kit. "My parents mentioned that his servants gathered at mountains of ebon and basalt, and his servants were not of the younger races." "The island has been described as an island of ebon and basalt," notes Alistair. "We were told of four centers for its followers. This is all useful information that we clearly didn't do as much with as we might have at the time. The eastern island, an island off the southern coast of Khamista, a mountain to the southeast of Drucien against the lands of the Skaven, and a center within the Arctic Circle." "That's the area where there was the whole gate exploration!" responds Alistair in frustration at having missed this at the time. "Wait... this mountain near the Skaven lands... that hasn't been in our awareness at all..." "That's not the same mountain as the island, right?" "No, the Eldritch island we know of." "The island off the south coast to Khamista. I feel like that's the one where we think what's his name fled to, right?" "No, it's a different one. There's one that's near Mandrath, that is, an Eldritch island where some of the armies of Sytry fled to." "Yes, that's what I was meaning." "But it's different from the islands on which the anti-patriarch is. Incidentally, I had two additional thoughts about the anti-patriarch," rambles Alistair. "One is that if I got that brain infection thing when I was at Holy Cortose, then it's possible that the reason why the patriarch has been unwilling up to this point to formally excommunicate and cast out the anti-patriarch and his followers, thus allowing the schism to come into the public, is that the same magical-psionic effect may be impairing the ability of the Sytryites to do that. Also, while a set of islands near Purdun and Tarhanna is not a very strategic location in most regards, if the hope was to have one of those countries overthrown from Glordiadelian to Sytryite rule, at least in part, and then seize that as part of the new Sytryan Temple, and thus actually serving Arthranax, then it would make perfect sense to want to be in that area. If roughly a third of the population of Tarhanna is Sytryite, there are surely individual islands that are 50 or 60 or 70% Sytryan." "All right," says Dame Brionna, "but what about this mountain? I'm worried if there's another base we don't know about." "Yes, I don't disagree, but we don't know where that is specifically. We should ask the Skree if they know about that mountain." "The other thing that's more relevant for Kit, is this information about what the Grand Duchess was uncovering. There were Many-Tongued Worm people [in the outer Duchies? Notes unclear.] Which means, I think we need some people following up on that." "Yes, we do." Alistair says, "I think I remember something else. One of the assassins that were sent that attacked at that voller's arrival, that tried to kill somebody as they were arriving, one of them invoked the Worm or something while they were falling to the ground, before they splattered messily because the ties between the land and the Archduke did not allow them to pass into the land..." "Yes, this was all from before you got married." "A long time ago," agrees Kit. "Yes, at least a year or so," agrees Alistair. [This is something of a joke, because while about a year ago in game time, it was something like 15 years ago in real time.] "There are also gray humans, who we fought at one point, and they invoked the 'Great Worm,' calling 'Lend me your strength.'" "So what kind of person were they?" asks Kit. "They clearly weren't actually humans. Who were they?" "More or less still in human form. They were dock workers. This is interesting. They cast a spell by invoking the Lord of Cleansing Flame Cartaluma. They then hit you with a massive flame strike." "Cartaluma is another one of the Six," notes Alistair. "So that strongly suggests, then, that Urlodo has, in fact, become paramount among the Six, if there are followers of the others of the Six who nonetheless look to Urlodo as a higher authority." "Or could Urlodo have taken over Cartaluma's portfolio?" "No," says the Reverend Canon, "he could power himself to a point where they could use another's power in his service, but not to have actually subsumed another of the Six entirely." Dame Brionna keeps reading out snippets of her notes. "The great Worm that Burrows... 'My library has more information, but when His Grace meets with the Glorious Light, he should ask.'" "That would be when I was going to see the Patriarch." "'It is without question that the Queen of Chaos was involved. She has never knelt to anyone. It will be playing with fire for Urlodo to be involved with her, even to release her from her prison.' The other, absolutely certain to be involved is an old rival of the Queen of the Succubi.' Which fits: that will be the Seductress, presumably." Alistair says, "We definitely need to do our own searching in the Archduchy for people who are following this. We also need to ask the Skree if they know about the mountain." "Yes, and maybe our dwarven allies as well." "Indeed. And we also should ask both the Skree and our vassal Skaven if they know about Urlodo followers down there, warlord clans that are turning to follow Urlodo, and that sort of thing." "The other thing that seems immediately relevant is that it seems like there might have been a good connection between people following the Cult of the Worm and Tusslefields, which is of course our large mining duchy and has an entrance to the Underdark." "Where they may have also been diverting miners to the Great Mine," comments Alistair. "So we also need to right reach out to Tusslefields," continues Dame Brionna, "and remember that over half the legions of Canberry contain Tusslefield soldiers." "There's a difference between there being problems with a cult there, and everyone being a cultist." "Yes," agrees Kit, "but Tusslefields being well known for supplying soldiers to the army makes it very, very easy for a cult to make sure that there are cultists well distributed among the legions." "And the Tusslefields, we know, unusually married in from the Kingdom of Life." "I think we need to call for Their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Tusslefields to come and visit us," says Alistair. The Reverend Canon finally says, "May I be excused, Your Majesty?" "Oh, certainly. Thank you again." As he departs, young Lord Brightspan informs the Council that Sister Ginerva Colombo, an expert in demonology from the seminary, is in an antechamber. They ask that she be immediately sent in. [One of the players commented ooc, "I bet she has just one more question about demons."] Sister Ginerva is a fairly short nun, not round but not slender either, in a full habit with no skimping on her part. "Your Majesty and Holy Protector. I was surprised and delighted to be called upon to come and visit you." "Sister, thank you for attending on us." "I'm only a humble specialist in demonology. I never expected to see the inside of the palace." "I wish that this were a social call based on your long and loyal service to the Lord of Light, instead of practical questions about your expertise, that so few share." "Oh, that's very kind." Young Lord Brightspan says to Kit through the mindlink, <<She's the stuff. There's more going on in her mind than just about anyone else I've seen.>> <<That's good to know. Anything else unusual?>> <<No, not really. She pinched my cheek...>> Kit relays that to the rest of the Council. "The first thing is that we are piecing together who the collection of demons who are aligned with the Eldritch are." "Very sane." "And we believe that they are: the Lord of Rams; the Abomination of Shurr; the Queen of Chaos; Membriel, the Lord of Believable Lies; Urlodo; Jubilex, and then we're uncertain on the other one. Perhaps the Seductress. We know the Seductress is part of that, but we don't know whether she's being counted among the seven demon lords, and for that matter, the Abomination of Shurr is actually weak to be counted among that group of seven." "It is. That was his hope, to become a greater demon lord, but he never succeeded." "And so, if there are seven demon lords, then he should not actually be one of them." "Correct." "Would the Seductress count, do you think?" "I don't think so. Her position is unique." "Because of the whole Noldor-archdevil-demon princess progression." "Yes, correct. I would be surprised if Jubilex is involved, if his fellow is not also involved, although to be fair, his fellow has been in prison for millennia." "This is He Who Gnaws?" "Yes, Master of the Hungry Moon." "Which moon is that?" asks Dame Brionna. "The Red." "He no longer has a plane, though, so are they counting him? Well, they are counting the Queen. She no longer has a plane, either, but she does have tremendous influence throughout the Abyss, despite them trying to crush it out for centuries. He is also the Lord of Goats, and the Lord of Fungus. I've never understood that connection, but that's what all the books say." "Wait. So he has the same title as Cyth-S'sug?" asks Alistair. "Yes, Cyth-S'sug replaced him after he was imprisoned." "Do they have an enmity, then?" "Oh, they hate each other. If one is involved, the other is not." "In the same way as the enmity between, say, Malacat, and on the one hand, the Seductress, and, on the other hand, the Queen of Chaos." "Correct." "So that does somewhat suggest He Who Gnaws may be involved, and that then Cyth-S'sug might be not involved, and, in fact, might even be someone that can be mobilized against this." "That is true. Does that give you all of the seven?" "I only count six." "If you were to try to make a determination through the use of spells, I would certainly consider the possibility that Zura is part of this. Lord of Cannibals." "The Lord of Cannibals?" asks Dame Brionna. "There are enough of them to have a god?" "It's a demon lord, not a god," clarifies Alistair. "Yes, a demon lord. I would never consider them a god," Sister Ginerva says severely. "And possibly Deskaru: Lady of the Locust Host, of Infestation and Starvation. Those are the two that I think are most likely to be aligned with the others." "Yes, all right," says Alistair. "Both of those seem like they might tie into this." "Relevant portfolios," notes Dame Brionna. "How horribly unpleasant!" Alistair then frames the next question. "We have been wondering whether Urlodo may have, in fact, supplanted Borsh'tro as leader of the Six. We know that Borsh'tro is no longer considered a god, and it seems most likely that either that power was also seized by Arthranax, or that it has been taken by Urlodo. Do you know, or have any insight on that?" "The Synod within the Church believes that Urlodo is in the process of elevating himself to Borsh'tro's position. We believe that, in fact, at the moment there is no god of Chaotic Evil. Borsh'tro has declined with part of his power being stolen, and frankly Urlodo is the only one of the Council of Six that is smart enough to steal from him. Urlodo, then, would be in the process of elevating himself and preparing to move into Borsh'tro's position, possibly without ever telling anyone officially." "Is there anything that we could do to attempt to disrupt that? Because it seems that would actually be substantially more dangerous than Borsh'tro." "That's the view of of the Synod. You are the Protector. Have you been made aware of the Synod?" "No, this is the first I've heard it mentioned." "The Synod is a group of sanctioned diabolists and demonologists. Not that we summon demons or devils, but that we study them across the temple, across the entire Church. Our duty it is to make ourselves fully aware of demonic and diabolic threats going forward, and to advise the patriarch on proper actions." "Do you engage in active investigation and hunting of cults?" "Hunting, no; investigation, yes. The example of the Temple of Paranswarm's Inquisition is not one to encourage us to take on the role of hunting cults." "No. Our preferred approach, and I say this both as the Emperor of Southern Drucien and as the Protector, our preferred approach is for the Church to work with the secular authorities of Lord Glordiadel to identify such things and then for the secular authorities to deal with them through the regular courts and processes, and so forth. Certainly, a cultist can be hanged for following a proscribed religion, or can be put to death for murder or the like, but not in a 'this village is condemned because there was a cult within it' kind of way that the Inquisition would do." "And does do, routinely." "It must be the case that if we must allow cultists to escape so that we can avoid killing innocents, then that is our duty." "I concur. With Your Majesty's permission, I will speak directly." "Please." "If Your Majesty wishes to root out cults within the greater Empire--I cannot speak for the Southern Kingdoms. I've not been there. The Church is newly established there. However, within the Archduchy, for the sake of the Light, start with Tusslefields." "We have, in fact, just summoned the Duke and Duchess of Tusslefields, so that we may examine them and their household's connections." "But tell us why you think that, though?" asks Dame Brionna. "A friend of mine--a member of the Synod-- several years ago uncovered a cult in one of the mining cities in Tusslefield, and managed to send a report to the Archduchess, shortly before he took an unexpected 500 foot fall off the side of a mountain. The report was never acted on. Her Grace was not well by then, and I'm sure it's buried somewhere in your archive. But those things spread, Dame." Alistair thinks about this. "If I received a report that I didn't have the energy and capabilities to act upon about a problem in one of my vassals lands, my instinct as a way of dealing with it would be to tell my vassal about it, and have them deal with it. Do you know whether the Archduchess sent that report on to Tusslefields." "It's very odd. As the Archduchess declined--your pardon, Your Majesty." "Of course." "She gathered things to herself more and more strongly. Near the end, she was not sharing things even with her closest confidants, to say nothing about nobles that she may not have completely trusted." "She likely realized that there was a traitor in her inner circle, but had not identified her privy secretary as that traitor." "I believe you're correct." "Are you sure that the report reached her?" asks Kit. "The private secretary could also have prevented it," says Dame Brionna. "That is also possible." "Or it could have gone astray on the road with the couriers," adds Kit. "No," says Alistair. "It made it to Canberry City, because Sister Ginerva got a copy." "Yes, we know that it entered the City. I do not know if the privy secretary forwarded it to her." "Likely not." "But even if she had, I do not think that at that time, Her Grace was any longer capable of action." "We found records that she wanted us to have of military units--actually abroad-- that she viewed as being disloyal or corrupted. I wonder if she left other documents somewhere that we could find?" "I do not know." "The archivist?" suggest Dame Brionna. "It's almost more a matter of searching her personal chambers and the like. There was something in the throne. I wonder if there was anything in her chambers or bed or whathaveyou?" "You don't use her chambers, right?" asks Dame Brionna. "Of course not." "Would you like me to get some of my people on that?" suggests Kit. "Yes, I think that's absolutely necessary." "I will choose the absolute, most discreet people I have." "That would be good, because it is entirely plausible that there may be things of interest to the family that would best not be made public." "You know, I've got a few who can't even read." "Might not be a bad idea. I mean, we think we know everything that was going on with her privately at the time, and it was not at all scandalous, certainly by the standards of high nobility. We know she had a paramour after her last husband died, but nothing untoward there, but nonetheless." "So I will delegate some very, very skilled, very discreet, illiterate people to go looking for these documents." They also brief Sister Ginerva on the Great Mine and the chaos centaurs. "Chaos centaurs? On this continent?" "Yes, the chaos centaurs were what got us investigating Urlodo to begin with, because if there were chaos centaurs here, he's the only one who is associated with them," explains Kit. "And once we started looking for signs of him, we found them everywhere." "Are we missing any people under mysterious circumstances?" asks Sister Ginerva. "Would we expect to be?" asks Dame Brionna. "No, but you can expect to be with Urlodo." "Can you get more specific about the mysterious circumstances?" asks Kit. "We've had a lot." "People simply disappearing." "That sounds familiar..." says Dame Brionna. "We have," agrees Kit. "But there's been so much going on that we just assumed that the disappearance was just a mystery that we hadn't solved yet." "There was the dead end from the Treasurer, who was working for some cult and getting them... was it ruby chips, or something like that?" recalls Alistair. "And then got murdered with a very sophisticated set of murders to prevent him from being traceable. When they teleported, they torture the horse to death to create a psychic barrier to prevent tracing the teleport." "One of the tribes of eums bears allegiance to Urlodo. They're not exactly demons, and they are on the prime, but normally only in the Shadowlands, in the same place the chaos centaurs are. They are consummate assassins." "So that's why we were having trouble tracking them." "I must admit, not that I knew much of them, but that I'd always thought of yellow eums as being like goblins, petty threats that that would attack occasionally, and that you could stick a sword in, and they die," comments Alistair. "They are petty threats as long as they're seen. Their use of garroting, their usage of toxins, as well as poisons. I presume His Majesty knows the difference." "Ingested versus injected?" "Or sprayed. Their use of small animals to deliver poisons and toxins. Their ability to hide themselves in the ground and erupt onto their victims by total surprise in groups. They are not dangerous if you see them coming. They're very dangerous if you don't know they're there." "That almost makes me wonder if some of the ones in the Shadowlands are deliberately used to make less well planned attacks, to make them appear less dangerous," muses Alistair. Dame Brionna notes an old prophecy they were given some time ago [2015 in real time]: "“Shining counselors will come. You must be cautious. Do not be fooled by devotion to the light. It is from light the worm will rise to strike. Words came to me: Nowhere better can falsehood lie than within the heart of truth. It seems nonsensical, does it not? And yet, that’s what came to me." "From the Light that the Worm will rise to strike..." repeats Kit. "Now, it seems so obvious that that was warning us about the Sytryites," Alistair says. "In terms of disappearance, weren't we at some point investigating an aboleth?" "That was in the western duchy, where the malaise was. We sent Lord Davion to talk to that aboleth and to sort things out, and I think he succeeded in doing so. That malaise has been lifted, I believe," responds Alistair. "I could certainly see Urlodo being interested in subverting aboleths, but they are typically extremely lawful." "Yes, they are indeed," agrees Sister Ginerva. "Are there other major servitors of Urlodo besides the chaos centaurs, the yellow eums, and the dhoyles?" "Trueborn. Not all of them, but a significant number of their tribes." "What are trueborn?" "Human servants of Chaos. In fact, they would assert that they are of purer human lineage than nearly any other humans alive on the plane." "What would that even mean?" "That they have kept their line genetically pure among the tribes from the inception of Chaos, with no mixing with the elves, or fae, or halflings, demons, dragons... So there are none of those bits of other blood that so many of us have, or they think we have." "So a bunch of racist zealots, then." "A bunch of racist human zealots, yes." "Yeah, you know what they don't have then?" says Kit. "Any psionics." "You're correct, and very little magic. What they have is clerical." "Of course that, but nothing arcane, because they wouldn't want to have to deal with elves." "Or dragons. Arcane power usually comes from either elves or dragons or both." "But is that all the major servitors?" "Yes, those are all of Urlodo's major servitors." "How much do we need to worry about the idea of there being dhoyles on Drucien?" asks Alistair. "I do not know how they could have transported one. But. They could have brought a small one if they've brought chaos centaurs here and be trying to raise it here." "Like maybe in a mine filled with fresia." "That would be a good place for it, yes." "This just gets better and better. Is there any reason to think that they would be able to subvert a non-Morgrathian balrog?" "If they're not Morgrathian, it would depend on what he could offer them. There have been a couple of the balrogs that did not follow Lord Morgrath who have been taken into Chaos worship." "There's apparently a balrog that serves an imprisoned Vala. One of the Valar that did not follow either Morgrath or Eiru, and that was then bound and imprisoned in the ground, and possibly with elven seals placed on it as part of that process, or possibly afterwards elven seals were placed to prevent it from escaping. The elves were a little bit unclear about that. They seem to have forgotten the details of what happened." "Which is a little surprising," notes Dame Brionna. "Well, but it was during the First Age. Elves don't think about things like that as well as they could. And there are things that the Eldar and the Noldor and their descendants can't remember properly, because the Kinslaying broke their memory. I don't know how that works, but I know that to be true. That's part of why the Eldron have more powers, that they remember things more completely as well as simply having more essence to draw upon. At least that's my understanding, from what various Eldar and Noldor have told me." "That seems reasonable. However, if they have brought a dhoyle here, and are raising it in a mine full of fresia, with a possibly converted balrog, I know what they could offer the balrog. So do you, if you think about it." "To free its master," Alistair responds. "Yes. That if they gain sufficient power, they will free its master. Balrogs are very single-minded. That would win its loyalty." "They probably wouldn't even be lying, because they would want to free that Vala just to distract us, if nothing else." "Yes," says Sister Ginerva. "Heck of a distraction..." says Dame Brionna. "I'm not sure how you would shut that down." "We've talked to the Hastur about them providing a trainee to assist us when we make an assault on some of the things around here. If there were a dhoyle, we might ask them if they could send someone more seasoned than that. I don't know who else could face it. I suppose the great elves that are not of the Hastur could also face a dhoyle, but I don't know if anything else can." "Dhoyles can be killed, particularly when they're young, but balrogs, on the other hand... Do we know how powerful it is? Is it one of the Thirty?" "No, it's not one of the Thirty. We know that there were two of them that were released from that mine. One remained in the mine, and is presumed to still be a threat there, but was bound in for many years, when the mine was sealed. The other one of them fought a Noldor lord and was destroyed. I think a Noldor lord-- might have been an Eldar. Princess Curinirim, if you are aware of her, asserted that she was fairly confident that she could kill that balrog, but did not seem certain of it." "And she's arrogant, so..." says Dame Brionna. "And a First Comer," notes Sister Ginerva. "Yes." "Well, that doesn't bode well. I suppose if you could take the outer fortification, you could seal them back in, but I'm not sure how. I'm not a military person. But if you seal them in, if they have any intention within the mine, they will probably finish it." "Which means that we would have to seal them in with something capable of selling in the Vala at a minimum." "Correct." "And that presumes they can't burrow through the fresia in a different direction, which, with simple miners would seem difficult, but with a dhoyle... that's what dhoyles do." "Or reach the Underdark, yes. I am uncertain how good it would be for them to reach the Underdark." "I wonder if we could convince Lord Goldurim that there's some compelling reason that he needs to deal with this himself," muses Alistair. "Yes, but that would involve talking to Lord Goldurim," notes Kit. "Yes, but if we manage to convince Lord Goldurim of this, then nothing bad could happen in the mine after he goes in." "Then Lord Goldurim gets shut up in the mine as well!" "Because either he wins or he loses, or ideally both." "I'm not going to be doing that convincing," says Dame Brionna. "Which brings us back to it means we have to talk to Lord Goldurim, and I don't think anybody really wants to do that," responds Kit. "No, we have been specifically advised never to do that," agrees Alistair. "Yeah, you should take that advice." "But maybe we could send him a message. I don't know. I just always like having my enemies fight each other." "No, that's great," says Kit. "Let's think of a different enemy that we can send down there." "You have lots of enemies," Dame Brionna helpfully observes. "Meanwhile, we also know that Lell, the Marchioness of Darkness, is hanging out in a brothel in Enclaves." "There are more unusual places for her." "As part of a deal with the Zorplona-Moriquendarim." "But there may not be more unusual deals for her." "We're concerned that she may try to seize the item of great lawful power underneath Enclaves." "That would be a disaster," points out the demonologist. "Does that seem like something that she might want to do?" "Oh, very reasonable. The amount of power it would give her in the Hells is substantial, but it would unbalance the north." "Just so you know, the primary object giving stability to Enclaves is no longer there." "That's not good." "Well, no, it is good, it was necessary, but there's now only the balance between the object of great Law and the object of great Chaos. The actual object of stability and actual Neutrality is no longer present." "And now they are balancing each other?" "Poorly." "Of course, they could not maintain a particularly stable balance. "But enough!" says Kit. "So if she is trying to get that, and she succeeds, it could be catastrophic." "I see that, yes. Well, hopefully, they wrote a very solid contract. Probably not, but hopefully." "I was going to say, anyone want to take bets on that? Oh, and their payment for this was viable seed to create a devil-Noldor hybrid thing." "Oh, yes, that obviously gives them power as well, but not as much as the item of Law, and not as quickly. Who can we warn up there meaningfully?" "We were thinking Meredith the Dazzling." "Sensible, I think." "Maybe Princess Curinirim, but I'm not sure that we can make her understand the danger. She seems to think that she can hold things together in Enclaves by sheer force of personality. I think she underestimates how unnatural enclaves's configuration is." "Probably, probably. In Krashmere, they push everyone around wherever they want them, so the idea that people will naturally kill one another may not occur to her." "Lovely! Do we have anything else for Sister Ginerva at this time?" With no additional questions, they thank Sister Ginerva for speaking with her and dismiss her. Shortly thereafter, Kit receives the first document found secreted in the late Archduchess's chambers. [Attached] She shows it to the rest of the Council. "The Archduchess left this message to her heir, warning him that there was a traitor highly placed in the court. She suggested that he could use the life offering as a first cut--anyone who participated in that couldn't be the traitor." "The life offering being used is ruthless," says Dame Brionna. "She must have given up on trying to stop the life offering." "Well, we'll have plenty of time to change the culture," says Kit. "And Dame Brionna and I will set a good example." Alistair nods agreement. "I believe that message would have been much more useful if we had gotten it on time. And clearly addressed to my father." "Yep, it was to your father, who never got there," comments Kit. "Honestly, he probably would have made a hash of all of this," observes Alistair. "He would have charged bravely," says Dame Brionna. "Yes, he was very good at that part." [End Session 153; with that, we're fully caught up to the present. As we play additional sessions, I'll resume posting, probably more or less on a MWF schedule. Because the current write-ups are quite long per session, I'll probably break them up into somewhat smaller chunks in the future--I just wanted to ring the bell of having caught up completely today. :) Also, for people who are interested in such things, the Moriquendarim who dealt with Lilith to get the Marchioness in Enclaves are another group of PCs. Which means that much of this session was one group of PCs trying to do damage control for the dubious decisions of another group of PCs. :) ] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
Top