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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7334595" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 40 (189), Part One - The Seige of Alais Primos</strong></p><p></p><p>Their meeting with the Fists of Pala yielded one extra piece of information as they revealed more and more about the activities of the Ob: One of the Fists who lived to the north of the Eastern Piscenes suddenly heard a possible explanation for her strange experience a month ago, when the unit described Borne, the colossus. The woman, middle-aged but fit as a fiddle, said that she had been meditating in the high peaks when she had what she thought was a vision: she suddenly saw a gigantic metal man clamber up, over and then down one of the highest peaks, before stomping off down a valley heading west, whereupon it disappeared from view. (They would be handed a possible explanation for this, and a reason to hurry their investigation, several days later.)</p><p></p><p>During their return journey to Orithea – travelling overland for fear of risking long-range teleports in this land of wild magic – they received a sending from Vitus Sigismund, the clergy godhand they freed from Ob captivity on Mutravir Island. He wanted to know what they had been doing in Alais Primos! When they reached Orithea and it became possible to answer him safely, they admitted their involvement and arranged to meet on the deck of the Impossible, now sailing just off the coast of Crisillyir. Vitus was not there officially, but in the self-appointed, unofficial capacity of rooting out Obscurati officers from the church. He had investigated the recent sorcerous phenomena in the city and recognised descriptions of the unit. If their activities would help to thwart the Ob, then he was keen to help, though slightly taken aback at Kasvarina’s involvement. (“Are you sure you have not all been bewitched?”) The only condition was that Vitus would accompany them to all of the event sites. Local law enforcement would not dare contradict the word of a godhand.</p><p></p><p>With this agreed they returned to Alais Primos, and headed for the city walls. Vitus roped the guards there into clearing the area. He told them they were about to use a powerful divination in the hunt for heretics (which was more-or-less true). But nothing could prepare them, or him, or the unit for what happened next:</p><p></p><p><em>When the event begins, they once again see the magical, golden dome that could be conjured by prayers of those within, shielding the city even from aerial attacks. This close, the shield is faintly translucent so you can see the defenders inside. Kasvarina and other mages wait behind a row of eladrin rajput holding heavy shields to defend against missiles from the city.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The army has left a wide opening in their ranks, and General Sor Daeron walks out, followed by a hundred human captives held at spear-point by soldiers. With his voice magically amplified, Sor shouts to the eladrin army that this golden wall is made of human prayers, but that they will now make those prayers falter. He turns to the wall and demands that achampion of the Clergy meet him in open battle, then says that if the city’s faithful are too cowardly to face him, he will cut down human prisoners ten at a time.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>There is no response, and Sor orders his men to begin. The massacre lasts five minutes, with the human prisoners begging as spears pierce them row by row, while those inside the walls scream and jeer. The Elfaivaran army shifts nervously, but true to Sor’s word the humans inside are not praying sufficiently, and the wall begins to fade.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>When only forty prisoners remain, the wall parts and three hundred human soldiers emerge, led by Prime Cardinal Richelmont, a battle-priest who walks within a smaller version of the golden shield that protects the city. As fighting erupts on all sides, Sor begins a formal challenge, but the cardinal interrupts by summoning pillars of salt that spray up from the ground around him, killing every eladrin they touch, and catching Sor Daeron by the arm.</em></p><p></p><p>Throughout this memory event, the unit had found themselves subject to attack from all sides, embedded as they were in the midst of a suddenly manifest eladrin army. The eldarin struck out in all directions and did not restrict their blows to their historical foes. The unit dodged, defended and sought cover as best they could.</p><p></p><p><em>Ignoring the pain, Sor Daeron wrenches his arm from the pillar. Wafting tendrils of sand emerge from the severed limb as Richelmont strides forward to strike. Just before the Cardinal can deliver a fatal blow, the tendrils that were once Sor Daeron’s arm form together in a new limb made entirely of salt, and the elf strikes the cardinal’s golden shield, destroying it. The surrounding eladrin launch arrows and spells, and the cardinal falls. The surviving humans retreat, and eladrin rush to treat the injured Sor, but an officer beside Kasvarina notices that a new opening has appeared in the dome nearby. He recklessly orders everyone to rush the opening, but only Kasvarina and four others manage to get inside before the opening closes. Within are ruined walls and trenchwork.</em></p><p><em></em> <em></em></p><p><em>Human warriors overwhelm the eladrin who drop one by one under a hail of blows, until only Kasvarina fights on. She kills every man in this small pocket of rubble, before dropping to her knees next to one of her male allies, who barely clings to life. For a moment they are alone, the sounds of combat distant. As an exhausted Kasvarina watches the warrior breathe what should be his last breaths, a robed figure emerges into the trench work from the south.</em></p><p></p><p>Though he was standing in the wrong place, Korrigan felt the tug of the Humble Hook and moved to merge with the newcomer. He understood at once that he was here with a purpose, looking for someone or something.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Garbed in gray robes, the man strides forward with determined vigor, to kneel beside Kasvarina. She watches as he silently begins applying pressure to the eladrin man’s wounds and applying herbs from the folds of his robe. In response to Kasvarina's scowl, he says simply, "Does it really matter who I am, if I can save this man?” Kasvarina winces at her own wounds, and falls forward into William Miller’s arms.</em></p><p></p><p>When the dust of the event settled, there was confusion and despair. The radius of the memory extended beyond the cordon they had cleared and several bystanders had been cut down – subject to all-too-real blows from eladrin scimitars, which even the unit had been forced to fend off. The memory event had attacked every available human target, real or reimagined. Vitus admitted that he was not sufficiently high-ranking to elide over such an atrocity and suggested they move quickly to the site of the next memory and try to be more careful next time. Shouts of alarm drew near; they made haste. </p><p></p><p>“That was the very man we fought against on Mutravir, was it not?” asked Vitus, of the vision of they had seen, although how he had been able to tell was unclear. (Uriel read his surface thought, and found it was Miller’s voice that gave him away.) They affirmed this fact, and told Vitus that he was also William Miller. Vitus snorted with derision as if an old suspicion had been confirmed. Then he urged them to make haste before the church authorities arrived. In response to their quizzical looks, he admitted that he was himself wanted by the Church, having recently executed a number of priests he had discovered working in the service of the Ob!</p><p></p><p>The next event was to be found near the centre of the city, in a humble building halfway up a steep incline, in the shadow of the basilica. Kasvarina sensed another event could be found within the basilica itself, but Vitus counselled against the risk, as the central cathedral was heavily guarded. So they made do with the closest memory for now:</p><p></p><p>During the Siege of Alais Primos, this place had been a hospital, but now it was a laundry where the priests’ robes were washed and aired. The humble washer-women obeyed Vitus’ order to leave and the memory event played out without spectators. They needn’t have worried, as this memory was decidedly less violent. Once again, Korrigan was drawn into the memory as Nicodemus:</p><p></p><p><em>Nicodemus has set up a hospital to treat eladrin prisoners-of-war. He works alone: his mission disapproved of. For safety’s sake the eladrin are chained to their beds, all save the most badly wounded. Every day Nicodemus treats wounds and talks to a few of the lucid. Gradually he asks them their own religious beliefs, their opinions on the war, who in Elfaivar might be sympathetic to a truce, and whether they have any family they care for back home.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>He speaks to Kasvarina too, who at first hates him since he’s a priest, and her husband died in the first holy war fifty years ago. Nicodemus explains that he was raised in the Clergy, but he no longer has faith in it; afterward he never wears his priestly robes when he tends to her.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>One by one, the eladrin die or are carted away by soldiers. (Uriel notices that the eladrin only ever die if they express strong religious fervour, or hostility.) After a while, only four eladrin remain, including Kasvarina.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>One night, when Kasvarina has mostly regained her strength, he removes her chains and they have a long conversation. It’s clear that by now that she has come to trust and respect him. At last, Miller makes an audacious proposition. He wants to escape the city with her, then travel to Elfaivar and negotiate with the ranamandala. Miller says he has found a way to halt the advance of the clergy, but will do so only if the eladrin vow not to exploit the weakness this creates and wipe out his people. “I plan to hand the clergy a weapon, and your people the means to destroy it. If they do so, the human militants who persecute this endless war will be wiped out, leaving the rest of us to pursue peace.”</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>After a long discussion of the risks they’d have to take, Kasvarina agrees. But, she asks, what of his other patients? At this point he shakes his head, and says that they will have to remain here, as they are too sick to travel. (Uru checks these sickening eladrin and recognises the tell-tale signs of poisoning. …)</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“After we have travelled to Elfaivar, I will need your help again, to obtain the weapon I seek. It will not be an easy task.”</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“Where must we go to find it?” she asks.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“To the island of Odiem, and a place called the Vault of Heretics.”</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7334595, member: 79141"] [b]Session 40 (189), Part One - The Seige of Alais Primos[/b] Their meeting with the Fists of Pala yielded one extra piece of information as they revealed more and more about the activities of the Ob: One of the Fists who lived to the north of the Eastern Piscenes suddenly heard a possible explanation for her strange experience a month ago, when the unit described Borne, the colossus. The woman, middle-aged but fit as a fiddle, said that she had been meditating in the high peaks when she had what she thought was a vision: she suddenly saw a gigantic metal man clamber up, over and then down one of the highest peaks, before stomping off down a valley heading west, whereupon it disappeared from view. (They would be handed a possible explanation for this, and a reason to hurry their investigation, several days later.) During their return journey to Orithea – travelling overland for fear of risking long-range teleports in this land of wild magic – they received a sending from Vitus Sigismund, the clergy godhand they freed from Ob captivity on Mutravir Island. He wanted to know what they had been doing in Alais Primos! When they reached Orithea and it became possible to answer him safely, they admitted their involvement and arranged to meet on the deck of the Impossible, now sailing just off the coast of Crisillyir. Vitus was not there officially, but in the self-appointed, unofficial capacity of rooting out Obscurati officers from the church. He had investigated the recent sorcerous phenomena in the city and recognised descriptions of the unit. If their activities would help to thwart the Ob, then he was keen to help, though slightly taken aback at Kasvarina’s involvement. (“Are you sure you have not all been bewitched?”) The only condition was that Vitus would accompany them to all of the event sites. Local law enforcement would not dare contradict the word of a godhand. With this agreed they returned to Alais Primos, and headed for the city walls. Vitus roped the guards there into clearing the area. He told them they were about to use a powerful divination in the hunt for heretics (which was more-or-less true). But nothing could prepare them, or him, or the unit for what happened next: [I]When the event begins, they once again see the magical, golden dome that could be conjured by prayers of those within, shielding the city even from aerial attacks. This close, the shield is faintly translucent so you can see the defenders inside. Kasvarina and other mages wait behind a row of eladrin rajput holding heavy shields to defend against missiles from the city. The army has left a wide opening in their ranks, and General Sor Daeron walks out, followed by a hundred human captives held at spear-point by soldiers. With his voice magically amplified, Sor shouts to the eladrin army that this golden wall is made of human prayers, but that they will now make those prayers falter. He turns to the wall and demands that achampion of the Clergy meet him in open battle, then says that if the city’s faithful are too cowardly to face him, he will cut down human prisoners ten at a time. There is no response, and Sor orders his men to begin. The massacre lasts five minutes, with the human prisoners begging as spears pierce them row by row, while those inside the walls scream and jeer. The Elfaivaran army shifts nervously, but true to Sor’s word the humans inside are not praying sufficiently, and the wall begins to fade. When only forty prisoners remain, the wall parts and three hundred human soldiers emerge, led by Prime Cardinal Richelmont, a battle-priest who walks within a smaller version of the golden shield that protects the city. As fighting erupts on all sides, Sor begins a formal challenge, but the cardinal interrupts by summoning pillars of salt that spray up from the ground around him, killing every eladrin they touch, and catching Sor Daeron by the arm.[/I] Throughout this memory event, the unit had found themselves subject to attack from all sides, embedded as they were in the midst of a suddenly manifest eladrin army. The eldarin struck out in all directions and did not restrict their blows to their historical foes. The unit dodged, defended and sought cover as best they could. [I]Ignoring the pain, Sor Daeron wrenches his arm from the pillar. Wafting tendrils of sand emerge from the severed limb as Richelmont strides forward to strike. Just before the Cardinal can deliver a fatal blow, the tendrils that were once Sor Daeron’s arm form together in a new limb made entirely of salt, and the elf strikes the cardinal’s golden shield, destroying it. The surrounding eladrin launch arrows and spells, and the cardinal falls. The surviving humans retreat, and eladrin rush to treat the injured Sor, but an officer beside Kasvarina notices that a new opening has appeared in the dome nearby. He recklessly orders everyone to rush the opening, but only Kasvarina and four others manage to get inside before the opening closes. Within are ruined walls and trenchwork. [/I] [I] Human warriors overwhelm the eladrin who drop one by one under a hail of blows, until only Kasvarina fights on. She kills every man in this small pocket of rubble, before dropping to her knees next to one of her male allies, who barely clings to life. For a moment they are alone, the sounds of combat distant. As an exhausted Kasvarina watches the warrior breathe what should be his last breaths, a robed figure emerges into the trench work from the south.[/I] Though he was standing in the wrong place, Korrigan felt the tug of the Humble Hook and moved to merge with the newcomer. He understood at once that he was here with a purpose, looking for someone or something. [I] Garbed in gray robes, the man strides forward with determined vigor, to kneel beside Kasvarina. She watches as he silently begins applying pressure to the eladrin man’s wounds and applying herbs from the folds of his robe. In response to Kasvarina's scowl, he says simply, "Does it really matter who I am, if I can save this man?” Kasvarina winces at her own wounds, and falls forward into William Miller’s arms.[/I] When the dust of the event settled, there was confusion and despair. The radius of the memory extended beyond the cordon they had cleared and several bystanders had been cut down – subject to all-too-real blows from eladrin scimitars, which even the unit had been forced to fend off. The memory event had attacked every available human target, real or reimagined. Vitus admitted that he was not sufficiently high-ranking to elide over such an atrocity and suggested they move quickly to the site of the next memory and try to be more careful next time. Shouts of alarm drew near; they made haste. “That was the very man we fought against on Mutravir, was it not?” asked Vitus, of the vision of they had seen, although how he had been able to tell was unclear. (Uriel read his surface thought, and found it was Miller’s voice that gave him away.) They affirmed this fact, and told Vitus that he was also William Miller. Vitus snorted with derision as if an old suspicion had been confirmed. Then he urged them to make haste before the church authorities arrived. In response to their quizzical looks, he admitted that he was himself wanted by the Church, having recently executed a number of priests he had discovered working in the service of the Ob! The next event was to be found near the centre of the city, in a humble building halfway up a steep incline, in the shadow of the basilica. Kasvarina sensed another event could be found within the basilica itself, but Vitus counselled against the risk, as the central cathedral was heavily guarded. So they made do with the closest memory for now: During the Siege of Alais Primos, this place had been a hospital, but now it was a laundry where the priests’ robes were washed and aired. The humble washer-women obeyed Vitus’ order to leave and the memory event played out without spectators. They needn’t have worried, as this memory was decidedly less violent. Once again, Korrigan was drawn into the memory as Nicodemus: [I]Nicodemus has set up a hospital to treat eladrin prisoners-of-war. He works alone: his mission disapproved of. For safety’s sake the eladrin are chained to their beds, all save the most badly wounded. Every day Nicodemus treats wounds and talks to a few of the lucid. Gradually he asks them their own religious beliefs, their opinions on the war, who in Elfaivar might be sympathetic to a truce, and whether they have any family they care for back home. He speaks to Kasvarina too, who at first hates him since he’s a priest, and her husband died in the first holy war fifty years ago. Nicodemus explains that he was raised in the Clergy, but he no longer has faith in it; afterward he never wears his priestly robes when he tends to her. One by one, the eladrin die or are carted away by soldiers. (Uriel notices that the eladrin only ever die if they express strong religious fervour, or hostility.) After a while, only four eladrin remain, including Kasvarina. One night, when Kasvarina has mostly regained her strength, he removes her chains and they have a long conversation. It’s clear that by now that she has come to trust and respect him. At last, Miller makes an audacious proposition. He wants to escape the city with her, then travel to Elfaivar and negotiate with the ranamandala. Miller says he has found a way to halt the advance of the clergy, but will do so only if the eladrin vow not to exploit the weakness this creates and wipe out his people. “I plan to hand the clergy a weapon, and your people the means to destroy it. If they do so, the human militants who persecute this endless war will be wiped out, leaving the rest of us to pursue peace.” After a long discussion of the risks they’d have to take, Kasvarina agrees. But, she asks, what of his other patients? At this point he shakes his head, and says that they will have to remain here, as they are too sick to travel. (Uru checks these sickening eladrin and recognises the tell-tale signs of poisoning. …) “After we have travelled to Elfaivar, I will need your help again, to obtain the weapon I seek. It will not be an easy task.” “Where must we go to find it?” she asks. “To the island of Odiem, and a place called the Vault of Heretics.”[/I] [/QUOTE]
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