Session 200, Part Three
What next?
Rumdoom was keen to do just exactly that – to help the Deep Ones and reclaim his wife. He had failed to track down Grandis Komanov (thus far) and failed to retrieve the Stone of Not, but perhaps he could capitalise on the aboleth’s fear of the gidim, and negotiate with a stronger hand?
Accessing the Cold Claw Sea would be impossible with She Who Writhes in the way, but the others were none-too-keen to remove her right away. Despite the disruption she caused to Risuri shipping, it remained advantageous to keep her in place defending Risur against naval invasion, especially in the light of what Rumdoom had learned.
They were concerned about the Voice of Rot, too. Now they knew where he had gone, and Jaques had already passed on Kasvarina’s message that they would need to follow her and ‘beat the Voice of Rot’, whatever that meant. Uriel considered excavating the Ziggurat of Apet, but before going to all that effort, they decided to have Leon take them to the Ziggurat of Avilona, through the portal Kasvarina had created in the Chamber of Dreams.
This windswept place, thousands of feet above sea-level, had been Kasvarina’s destination when she split from the group. They did not linger outside, where they could barely hear one another speak, but pressed on in through the darkest rectangle in the stonework, which itself formed a tiered silhouette against the deep charcoal of the night sky. Inside, the Ziggurat formed a single, vast, echoing chamber, with a hole at the apex. Immediately below this hole was a raised stone platform, intricately decorated with golden inlay. This had once been a magical transportation device, powered by the Ziggurat itself. Now it was defunct. Once again, Uriel used location loresight to establish that Kasvarina had come here and activated the device for the first time in many hundreds of years. She and Helandra had stood atop it and vanished with a flash. This final use had utterly drained the platform, perhaps even damaged it, as the target destination had been impossibly distant: Kasvarina had sent herself to the Gyre! (Well, thought Uriel, no point in excavating the swamp after all – Baden had merely been the titan’s first stepping stone, if Kasvarina was indeed trying to stop him, or head him off.)
Rumdoom still wanted to venture to the Cold Claw Sea. The rest of the group had begun to think that it might be necessary to find out what had happened on Axis Island. Neither of those things could be achieved while She Who Writhes was in the way.
The Best Laid Schemes…
As per Beshela’s invitation, they went down to the water’s edge and placed a bouquet of white lilies there. The archfey of the deep arose from the water atop the head of a giant octopus, surrounded by a half-dozen merfolk mounted on the backs of armoured seahorses. Beshela remained imperious, but Leon could see through her extravagant arrival: Previously, she had felt no need to convey an image of strength; doing so was a sign of her vulnerability. Beshela acknowledged that she had given them reason to distrust her, having tried to murder them three times. They could only think of two: her collusion with Duchess Ethelyn to blow up the Coaltongue; her attempt to sabotage the Impossible with a booby-trapped fey portal pad. The third, she confessed, was only half-hearted and took place when they were investigating the ‘death’ of Rock Rackus. (No, not the flooding of the Krog Tunnel – that was Thisraldion pretending to be her. She had masqueraded as Darbony and incited the Debauched Brotherhood to attack them.) “So, yeah, sorry about that… But you have to admit that if Duchess had been allowed to complete her coup, then the Obscurati might have been stopped a lot earlier.” This, then, was her motivation: to undo the Grand Design and return to the Dreaming. To that end she was willing to help them parley with her mistress. They decided to trust her and listened to her plan.
They travelled to Slate to discuss Beshela’s offer with the king and Harkover Lee. Harkover was at pains to stress that, while the slaying of Granny Allswell should not be lamented, her absence in the mountains made Risur more vulnerable to incursion from the South. (It would be a long time before Uru was powerful enough to take her place, and true power of the titanic kind would not accrue until he took up his proper place – although he had noticed some small changes already: he felt more vigorous, and by all estimations was at least an inch taller. He had already visited his fading garden and informed his four gardeners that they would soon be transferring to a much more impressive bit of real estate. And he had instructed his puppeteer friend Miss Fortune to spread a new tale to the children of Flint: the legend of Uncle Uru.) Harkover was keen to emphasise that they should not – even if they could – put paid to She Who Writhes in such a way. But the Principal Minister agreed that it would be useful to investigate what had happened on Axis Island. (He also took on board their potential need to find a way to travel off-planet, and promised to look into it.)
Beshela’s plan involved luring the kraken to shallow water. The easiest way to do this would be to put the king on a vessel; that would be enough to lure her close. There was a sandbank in the Ayres with a channel deep enough for a ship, but far too narrow for the titan. Having drawn her close, they could withdraw at speed and then pounce as She Who Writhes gave pursuit, catching her in the shallows. Beshela would then seek to commune with her mistress and convey the special urgency of their situation. This would take about a minute. Asrabey was confident he could protect her for long enough, but only if the kraken was otherwise distracted – which is where the unit came in.
With official permission granted, they put the navy on notice for the removal of She Who Writhes – they should be on the alert for an invasion. They gathered their forces on the Coaltongue and made contingency plans with Admiral Smith. Uru cast a water walking ritual on the whole team, and created a special version of the ritual for Big Jack. Asrabey arrived. He was the same as ever – arrogant and austere – but wore a magical crown to protect him from She Who Writhes. Beshela came aboard reluctantly, unhappy at having to set foot on a “chugging metal monstrosity”. Korrigan was last to come aboard, divided between his active, political and ceremonial duties. To ensure the Coaltongue was defended from the titan, he would remain aboard until she was a safe distance away; they would keep the brand charged and fire it only as a last resort. All aboard were nervous, especially the ordinary seamen. Everyone knew what She Who Writhes had done to the Danoran fleet…
…Gang Aft Agley
Things did not go according to plan. Horrible, alien noises heralded the kraken’s arrival – as did an ominous rushing bow-wave. Admiral Smith was loathe to turn about, and point the brand in the wrong direction, but aided by Beshela, the manoeuvre was incredibly swift and they were propelled through the channel at an equally impossible speed. But She Who Writhes did not follow and beach herself – instead, she vanished and reappeared on the other side of the sandbank, right in front of the Coaltongue!
With level-headed alacrity, Admiral Smith gave the order to fire the brand – even as the titan’s tentacles began to wrap around the prow. There was a great, fiery flash, a terrible noise and the stench of burning flesh, and the titan vanished. Fourmyle Jaunting! (And of the order familiar to the swift, such as Gully Foyle or Leon.)
Beshela said that if the titan returned, she could churn up the sea to prevent her mistress’ escape, but the brand had been fired and Admiral Smith was unwilling to linger like a sitting duck. They investigated the fey portal pad. They already knew it could still be used for its lesser function – to teleport a small force onto a nearby ship or surface – but no one knew if it could still be used to shunt the vessel into the Dreaming. This would afford the unit the opportunity to strike without risking the flagship. Closer examination was inconclusive. Both Leon and Uriel thought the attempt would work, but it might take longer for the ship to transition. If Korrigan used the powers vested in him as king in conjunction with the power of the portal pad, that might speed things up. So the Coaltongue would be safe, but what of She Who Writhes? Beshela could not churn the seas and commune with her at the same time; and how would they beach her?
Leon had the answer: he would attempt to teleport the titan onto the sandbank.
There was nothing to do now but wait for her to return. Beshela felt certain that she would, no matter how sorely the brand had injured her. But that type of injury would be slow to heal, and she would not attack again until it had done so. And so they waited in nervous silence.
Just over an hour later, the seas around the Coaltongue erupted in violent motion, as the titan grasped her from one side and began to pull. The vast ship listed, but did not tip thanks to Beshela. Before the tug-of-war could do some serious damage, Leon cast his spell upon the titan – bolstered by canny advice from Gupta, and an eschatological pronouncement from Rumdoom.
She Who Writhes vanished once again, and reappeared on top of the sandbank, disoriented only for a moment, before her tentacles reached for the Coaltongue once again, grasping it by the funnel. The unit and their allies stepped up to the portal pad and launched themselves at the titan, all save Uru, who leapt off the prow in Big Jack and rushed across the waves towards her.
Then, before the kraken could tear the ship apart, Korrigan invoked the pad’s major function, and the Coaltongue vanished.
The ship and her crew found themselves in sheer blackness, drifting through empty space. There was no air, no gravity; men began to float off the deck into nothingness; heavy equipment shifted about and struck people; they began to suffocate. The ship’s druid invoked a contingency he always reserved in the event of shipwreck. Suddenly everyone could breathe and speak. Smith and Korrigan took control. The ship’s mage used mage hand to draw floating sailors back onto the deck, and Korrigan flew around and grabbed those who were out of reach.
In the distance, they could see the Gyre. They appeared to be speeding towards it, though their motion was frictionless and so difficult to perceive. Hopefully, they would return to Lanjyr when the transition was over. Warmed by more cantrips, and bolstered by the presence of their king, they gathered together on the main deck and another, desperate waiting game began.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4