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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7395922" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>A parley on the forsaken island of Odiem</strong></p><p></p><p>Session 23</p><p></p><p>As we assume that team Luc is about to get away, we decide to make haste and follow them. Auryn uses a quick spell to connect her, Carlyle, Burton and Margit with shadowy whispers to make last minute arrangements before leaving the train as well: </p><p></p><p>We ask Burton who's been the most inconspicious one of our team to stay in deep cover for the rest of the trip and be on alert if should other possible Obscurati members enter the train next morning. Meanwhile, Margit should keep her appearance as a doctor and care for injured passengers in case of events. She's also free to team up with Andrei von Recklinghausen should she be in need of a fighting buddy. Regarding the two of us, we totally believe that we're about to blow our covers should we have to directly confront Luc Jierre, Ottavia Sacredotte, Tantalovich and Bree Kaldeckis. </p><p></p><p>We then leave the train, call for a carriage and ask the driver to follow the quartet at a safe distance. The carriage driver is a bit irritated at this request, but Carlyle uses subtle Familia phrases to show the man his “true colors”. He, again, emphasizes that we'd like to cause no commotion and just wish to coincidentally arrive at the same place the other carriage is most likely headed to. Fortunately, the Familia's name bears much weight in Crisillyir and so our slightly intimidated driver guesses that they are headed to Sid Minos harbor and uses a side-alley route to get us there. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(I'm always positively surprised when Carlyle uses his growing knowledge of Familia customs and signs to mislead people into thinking that he's affiliated with them. Especially in Crisillyir. He put quite an effort into keeping a good contact with Cippiano without crossing Delft's lines and I guess the two men have much mutual respect.)</span></p><p></p><p>The whole harbor is surrounded by thick fog and we can barely see that team Luc is being led to a separate part of the harbor before vanishing out of sight. Thanks to a combination of Auryn's musical inspiration - a quick hymn praising Srasama's fiery grace which allows us to gaze through the fog unhindered - and Carlyle's magically enhanced sight he can see the quartet depart on a small steam-powered vessel, heading towards a slender, tall building somewhere on the sea. Seems as if they are about to visit another lighthouse. Even if this one doesn't emit any light which doesn't make too much sense.</p><p></p><p>Auryn is just about to look out for a boat which might be fast enough to keep up with the steam vessel when Carlyle asks her to turn invisible and take his hand. He then turns invisible as well and quickly teleports the two of us on top of the boat's roof. </p><p></p><p>We stay hidden during the transfer and notice that the crew turns increasingly nervous the closer we're getting to the island. Once the boat lands and the quartet departs, some of the crewmen are almost terrified to be here, on this island called Odiem and it seems as if the sailors try to leave again as fast as possible. Luc and company are heading straight to the entrance of the island's old tower, so we decide to follow them at a distance. </p><p></p><p>As soon as the quartet comes close to the massive door, the three that are not Ottavia Sacredotte seem to be suddenly frozen in time while Ottavia starts drawing a summoning circle into the sandy ground. As we carefully examine the three at a distance it turns out that they were merely illusions and we come to the conclusion that this all was a cleverly set up plan to draw us (or other pursuers) away from the train. </p><p></p><p>As Ottavia is deaf and we are still invisible, we exchange a few words on whether Nevard's “woman torn into three” and “man torn into two” could be a metaphor for Ottavia and Luc and their loyalties for each other, the lantern project and maybe the Clergy ( in Ottavia's case) as Kasvarina was most certainly not aboard the train. Then we decide to drop the invisibility and approach Ottavia.</p><p></p><p>We ask her what she's doing here and why she left Luc to lead us here. We also wish to know why Luc tried to kill us, Rock Rackus, Andrei and that doctor Royceton with his phantom lantern and these spirit spectres. Ottavia seems surprise at our sudden appearance and puts her ongoing summoning ritual to a halt. She establishes a mental link to the two of us and explains that she'll do everything to protect Luc Jierre which is why she has to draw people who could harm him away from her protegee. People like us. She calls us risuri spies and adds that she won't let us stop him from making the world a better place. </p><p></p><p>We return that we don't wish to harm anyone, neither Luc, nor her. All we try to do is to understand what Luc and his other contacts might be planning. And while Luc seems like a genuinely good and benevolent person (as long as he's not trying to kill others with lantern-induced phantom zones based on assumptions...), we have more than one reason to doubt that the other people he might be working with share these traits. We tell her that we know some of these people and know that they don't shy away from using cruelty, murder and torture and that they conducted experiments that endangered thousands of people. </p><p></p><p>Ottavia says that this simply isn't true and that this might all be a misunderstanding, but we count all the facts we got from the Macbannin incident <span style="color: #008000">(without using any names of course)</span>: These guys almost obliterated a city district (the Nettles), tried to kill us and two innocent bystanders (Dr. von Recklinghausen and Lynn Kindleton), are responsible for the death of the High Skyseer, abducted of one of Auryn's relatives, and used the souls of workers who got killed in “factory accidents” as fuel for their empowered Witchoil. </p><p></p><p>Ottavia tries to deny any connection to her organization again, but we give her the name “Obscurati” and she seems to be shocked at this revelation. She then fetches the silver ring from her finger, and throws it right in front of our feet as if she'd wish to be rid of its influence. We pick it up and see that it contains an OB-code quite similar to those of Bergeron and Finona. </p><p></p><p>“I cannot believe it. I don't want to believe it. But I can sense no lie, no evil intent in your thought” she mutters mentally and collapses onto the wet sand. </p><p></p><p>We try to explain that these people used the same kind of trickery to get one of our own “good-hearted” Risuri to work for them and who lost his life once he realized his mistake and tried to make things right. Whoever leads them is most certainly trying to abuse the good intentions of powerful people who wish to make the world a better place. People like Luc. We say that it is heart-breaking for protectors like us to see a good person like him being fooled and his knowledge abused. </p><p></p><p>Ottavia slowly understands where we're coming from, but seems to despair again. “If you tell the truth, then I just doomed us all. My sacrifice will be in vain. For this is Odiem, the island that keeps the Crypta Heraeticorum and it is cursed. There is no escape for us. The dead will consume us all.”</p><p></p><p>Just as she finished this thought, the sea around us turns turbulent and the dead start to emerge from it. We ask Ottavia how long we'll have to fight them off and ask her to hide behind us. Ottavia explains that they'll rest again once the sun reaches its zenith which is in more than a half day. Auryn jokingly says that there probably won't be a Titan coming to their aid this time and Carlyle just replies that we really shouldn't wish to wake the Kraken. </p><p></p><p>Besides seeing the dead rising from the sea, we also realize that our own magic starts ebbing off as well. We feel like we have no choice but to take the bull by the horns and flee towards the cursed crypt. The two of us do our best to clear some of the rubble that's blocking the entrance of the tower. Then we convince Ottavia that she has to conquer her fears and follow our lead down there if she ever wishes to see her dearest Luc again. Besides that, getting eaten by zombies probably won't be the most glorious of ends for an oracle of the Clergy.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Ottavia puts herself together and uses her divine power to open the door to the Crypta. We hurry inside and make haste to lock the heavy door behind us. Then we take a deep breath as we know that, at least for the moment, we are safe from the undead. Auryn and Carlyle share their knowledge about this place and we remember that this is one of the places where the Clergy locked cursed and heretical objects away. Just as Auryn muses whether these fanatics might just have stored ancient artifacts of her own people down there, we hear a faint and strange whisper coming from further down the complex.</p><p></p><p>“Come inside, find me, child of Elfaivar, child branded by the goddess. You two, unlike the hypocritical priestess, are welcome to join me in this cursed crypt. My name is Ashima-Shimtu and I await you.”</p><p></p><p>Her whispers send shivers down our spines and we ask Ottavia who this Ashima-Shimtu might be as we never heard that name before. She isn't sure herself, but guesses that she'd be a powerful foe of the Clergy. We promise Ottavia to protect her and to be careful, but as it seems like we got a few hours to spare, are quite interested in these “heresies” stored here and are keen on getting as much distance between us and the zombies, we'd like to proceed further.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7395922, member: 6816692"] [b]A parley on the forsaken island of Odiem[/b] Session 23 As we assume that team Luc is about to get away, we decide to make haste and follow them. Auryn uses a quick spell to connect her, Carlyle, Burton and Margit with shadowy whispers to make last minute arrangements before leaving the train as well: We ask Burton who's been the most inconspicious one of our team to stay in deep cover for the rest of the trip and be on alert if should other possible Obscurati members enter the train next morning. Meanwhile, Margit should keep her appearance as a doctor and care for injured passengers in case of events. She's also free to team up with Andrei von Recklinghausen should she be in need of a fighting buddy. Regarding the two of us, we totally believe that we're about to blow our covers should we have to directly confront Luc Jierre, Ottavia Sacredotte, Tantalovich and Bree Kaldeckis. We then leave the train, call for a carriage and ask the driver to follow the quartet at a safe distance. The carriage driver is a bit irritated at this request, but Carlyle uses subtle Familia phrases to show the man his “true colors”. He, again, emphasizes that we'd like to cause no commotion and just wish to coincidentally arrive at the same place the other carriage is most likely headed to. Fortunately, the Familia's name bears much weight in Crisillyir and so our slightly intimidated driver guesses that they are headed to Sid Minos harbor and uses a side-alley route to get us there. [COLOR=#008000](I'm always positively surprised when Carlyle uses his growing knowledge of Familia customs and signs to mislead people into thinking that he's affiliated with them. Especially in Crisillyir. He put quite an effort into keeping a good contact with Cippiano without crossing Delft's lines and I guess the two men have much mutual respect.)[/COLOR] The whole harbor is surrounded by thick fog and we can barely see that team Luc is being led to a separate part of the harbor before vanishing out of sight. Thanks to a combination of Auryn's musical inspiration - a quick hymn praising Srasama's fiery grace which allows us to gaze through the fog unhindered - and Carlyle's magically enhanced sight he can see the quartet depart on a small steam-powered vessel, heading towards a slender, tall building somewhere on the sea. Seems as if they are about to visit another lighthouse. Even if this one doesn't emit any light which doesn't make too much sense. Auryn is just about to look out for a boat which might be fast enough to keep up with the steam vessel when Carlyle asks her to turn invisible and take his hand. He then turns invisible as well and quickly teleports the two of us on top of the boat's roof. We stay hidden during the transfer and notice that the crew turns increasingly nervous the closer we're getting to the island. Once the boat lands and the quartet departs, some of the crewmen are almost terrified to be here, on this island called Odiem and it seems as if the sailors try to leave again as fast as possible. Luc and company are heading straight to the entrance of the island's old tower, so we decide to follow them at a distance. As soon as the quartet comes close to the massive door, the three that are not Ottavia Sacredotte seem to be suddenly frozen in time while Ottavia starts drawing a summoning circle into the sandy ground. As we carefully examine the three at a distance it turns out that they were merely illusions and we come to the conclusion that this all was a cleverly set up plan to draw us (or other pursuers) away from the train. As Ottavia is deaf and we are still invisible, we exchange a few words on whether Nevard's “woman torn into three” and “man torn into two” could be a metaphor for Ottavia and Luc and their loyalties for each other, the lantern project and maybe the Clergy ( in Ottavia's case) as Kasvarina was most certainly not aboard the train. Then we decide to drop the invisibility and approach Ottavia. We ask her what she's doing here and why she left Luc to lead us here. We also wish to know why Luc tried to kill us, Rock Rackus, Andrei and that doctor Royceton with his phantom lantern and these spirit spectres. Ottavia seems surprise at our sudden appearance and puts her ongoing summoning ritual to a halt. She establishes a mental link to the two of us and explains that she'll do everything to protect Luc Jierre which is why she has to draw people who could harm him away from her protegee. People like us. She calls us risuri spies and adds that she won't let us stop him from making the world a better place. We return that we don't wish to harm anyone, neither Luc, nor her. All we try to do is to understand what Luc and his other contacts might be planning. And while Luc seems like a genuinely good and benevolent person (as long as he's not trying to kill others with lantern-induced phantom zones based on assumptions...), we have more than one reason to doubt that the other people he might be working with share these traits. We tell her that we know some of these people and know that they don't shy away from using cruelty, murder and torture and that they conducted experiments that endangered thousands of people. Ottavia says that this simply isn't true and that this might all be a misunderstanding, but we count all the facts we got from the Macbannin incident [COLOR=#008000](without using any names of course)[/COLOR]: These guys almost obliterated a city district (the Nettles), tried to kill us and two innocent bystanders (Dr. von Recklinghausen and Lynn Kindleton), are responsible for the death of the High Skyseer, abducted of one of Auryn's relatives, and used the souls of workers who got killed in “factory accidents” as fuel for their empowered Witchoil. Ottavia tries to deny any connection to her organization again, but we give her the name “Obscurati” and she seems to be shocked at this revelation. She then fetches the silver ring from her finger, and throws it right in front of our feet as if she'd wish to be rid of its influence. We pick it up and see that it contains an OB-code quite similar to those of Bergeron and Finona. “I cannot believe it. I don't want to believe it. But I can sense no lie, no evil intent in your thought” she mutters mentally and collapses onto the wet sand. We try to explain that these people used the same kind of trickery to get one of our own “good-hearted” Risuri to work for them and who lost his life once he realized his mistake and tried to make things right. Whoever leads them is most certainly trying to abuse the good intentions of powerful people who wish to make the world a better place. People like Luc. We say that it is heart-breaking for protectors like us to see a good person like him being fooled and his knowledge abused. Ottavia slowly understands where we're coming from, but seems to despair again. “If you tell the truth, then I just doomed us all. My sacrifice will be in vain. For this is Odiem, the island that keeps the Crypta Heraeticorum and it is cursed. There is no escape for us. The dead will consume us all.” Just as she finished this thought, the sea around us turns turbulent and the dead start to emerge from it. We ask Ottavia how long we'll have to fight them off and ask her to hide behind us. Ottavia explains that they'll rest again once the sun reaches its zenith which is in more than a half day. Auryn jokingly says that there probably won't be a Titan coming to their aid this time and Carlyle just replies that we really shouldn't wish to wake the Kraken. Besides seeing the dead rising from the sea, we also realize that our own magic starts ebbing off as well. We feel like we have no choice but to take the bull by the horns and flee towards the cursed crypt. The two of us do our best to clear some of the rubble that's blocking the entrance of the tower. Then we convince Ottavia that she has to conquer her fears and follow our lead down there if she ever wishes to see her dearest Luc again. Besides that, getting eaten by zombies probably won't be the most glorious of ends for an oracle of the Clergy. Fortunately, Ottavia puts herself together and uses her divine power to open the door to the Crypta. We hurry inside and make haste to lock the heavy door behind us. Then we take a deep breath as we know that, at least for the moment, we are safe from the undead. Auryn and Carlyle share their knowledge about this place and we remember that this is one of the places where the Clergy locked cursed and heretical objects away. Just as Auryn muses whether these fanatics might just have stored ancient artifacts of her own people down there, we hear a faint and strange whisper coming from further down the complex. “Come inside, find me, child of Elfaivar, child branded by the goddess. You two, unlike the hypocritical priestess, are welcome to join me in this cursed crypt. My name is Ashima-Shimtu and I await you.” Her whispers send shivers down our spines and we ask Ottavia who this Ashima-Shimtu might be as we never heard that name before. She isn't sure herself, but guesses that she'd be a powerful foe of the Clergy. We promise Ottavia to protect her and to be careful, but as it seems like we got a few hours to spare, are quite interested in these “heresies” stored here and are keen on getting as much distance between us and the zombies, we'd like to proceed further. [/QUOTE]
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