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
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7530016" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>The Adventures of Leon the Clever</strong></p><p></p><p><strong> Part Two - A Dream So Sad He Woke Up Crying</strong></p><p></p><p>Leon found himself alone in the Chamber, without Beshela. The light was different here, roseate and warm, and there was a pleasant aroma too. He couldn’t see much else thanks to a scintillating fog that swirled throughout. Then a figure stepped through it towards him. It was Kasvarina! She held in her hands two goblets and, smiling, passed one to him. He had learned from his time with the eladrin that it was meet never to turn down a proffered beverage, and before either one of them spoke, they drank. As always, the elvish wine was nonpareil, but the exquisite taste was an afterthought in the presence of Kasvarina herself.</p><p></p><p>It was odd that she hadn’t spoken yet, and that small doubt caused him to notice a magical resonance, the sign of a charm or illusion which he should have been able to pierce with his truesight. Whatever was creating it must have been very powerful indeed. Kasvarina must have noticed the shift in his expression, as she reached out and touched his hand.</p><p></p><p>“Please do not try to see through my illusion,” she said. “Trust me. Your questions will be answered very soon. But for now, I would like us to lie together, just as we did here not so long ago.”</p><p></p><p>Leon agreed wholeheartedly, and they did so.</p><p></p><p>When he awoke, many hours later, he was alone in bed, and alarmed to notice small bloodstains on his body and on the bedclothes. There were many of them and the blood was not his. He stood, dressed and left the bedroom he and Kasvarina had created, to find a sobbing woman at the table in the main chamber. He recognised her to be Helandra, the ananta paudha whom Gupta had killed and then revived. She looked up, saw him and was wracked by even greater sobs. Leon thought she looked wan, not just emotionally drained, but physically too.</p><p></p><p>“I wish you had been able to hear me,” she said. “Perhaps together we would have been able to dissuade her. But her magic was so powerful! I even reached out and took hold of you, shouted in your face, but you couldn’t see or hear.”</p><p></p><p>“Where is Kasvarina?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“Through there,” she said, gesturing to a new door; not a portal to a new place, but an internal door to a new room within the Chamber itself. </p><p></p><p>“And Beshela?” This, an afterthought.</p><p></p><p>“Gone. She is haughty, and would not wait for you. She left through one of the portals. She said you would have to resume your quest alone, as she had no intention of returning to the Cold Claw Sea.”</p><p></p><p>Leon shrugged. He went through the new door, and Helandra rose shakily and followed him. As they went she said, “She was so badly injured. The titan’s magic had poisoned her and she said that nothing could be done. But she didn’t seem to care. All she cared about was meeting you again. Once that was done, she created this place, and used the last of her magic to…”</p><p></p><p>The new room looked like some sort of magical or medical laboratory, lit by the green glow of a strange lamp that hung from the ceiling. Beneath there were two cold slabs of stone, upon which lay recumbent forms – one entirely covered by a white sheet; the second, Kasvarina. She was dead. Leon closed his eyes and mastered his emotions, then looked again. Her flesh was taught and pallid, her robes bloody, and the smell of rot was no longer masked by the illusory scent she had conjured.</p><p></p><p>Helandra was still speaking. Leon focused on the words he had missed and found he could still hear them, echoing in his mind. Helandra said that Kasvarina had used the last of her strength to create a new person, what she had described as a being ‘formed from all the good within her’. Hanging in the lamp was all her spite and anger – which had festered within her ever since the loss of both her daughters – as well as a soul-poison inflicted by the Voice of Rot. “The serpent’s bite poisons not just the body, but the eternal spirit.” It was this poison, Helandra told him through her tears, which had caused Kasvarina to abandon her own body, unable to find a cure in time – or unwilling to do so once she had set her mind on this extreme solution. “I told her it was madness, but she would not listen. Now there she lies. She warned me not to go near or tamper with the lamp. Much of her initial energy went into crafting it. It is a prison, she said. Once that was done, she devoted herself to the creation of the form beneath the sheet. This endeavour took many days, it seemed, though time passes strangely here. Each step of the process required me to give up some of my blood. She could not use her own, as it was poisoned and she was too weak. I am beginning to think now that it is the only reason she brought me here.” At this, she looked bereft.</p><p></p><p>Although he already knew the answer, Leon asked how Kasvarina’s injuries had come about. Helandra said, “I thought you knew. I thought she must have told you. We travelled to a silver ring she told me was the plane of time, and there she meditated for as long as she could. Before long, the serpent of the swamps arrived and challenged her. Kasvarina drew her sword and fought him. Even now I cannot think why she did not simply flee. When the titan proved too strong to best with her most powerful magic, she spared a moment to send me here, so I did not see the end. After a while I began to fear that she was already dead, but then the door to Reida opened again and she fell through.” The memory caused Helandra to weep again. “I wish she had chosen someone else. I was so proud when she chose me.”</p><p></p><p>Leon said something soothing and moved to the covered form. He stood looking down at it for a while, then gently turned down the sheet over its face.</p><p></p><p>It was Lavanya.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, everything made sense and no sense all at once. A flood of answers begat more questions. But the turmoil in his mind was short-lived, as it ceased when her eyes snapped open. Lavanya made eye-contact at once, smiled, rose, and kissed him, as warmly as Kasvarina had. When she did so, the sheet fell away entirely from her naked form, but she showed no sense of shame or shyness.</p><p></p><p>“It is strange,” she said, happily. “I know who you are, although we have never met. I have never ‘met’ anyone have I?”</p><p></p><p>Then she looked across at Kasvarina and said, “I think I know almost everything she knew. You must be very sad to have lost her.” Leon said that he was. Then he said that he loved Lavanya too, and now understood how he had been able to love them both with equal intensity. “That is good,” said Lavanya. “I am pleased. Now come on. Find me some clothes. We have a lot of work to do and I can’t run round the multiverse stark naked.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7530016, member: 79141"] [b]The Adventures of Leon the Clever[/b] [B] Part Two - A Dream So Sad He Woke Up Crying[/B] Leon found himself alone in the Chamber, without Beshela. The light was different here, roseate and warm, and there was a pleasant aroma too. He couldn’t see much else thanks to a scintillating fog that swirled throughout. Then a figure stepped through it towards him. It was Kasvarina! She held in her hands two goblets and, smiling, passed one to him. He had learned from his time with the eladrin that it was meet never to turn down a proffered beverage, and before either one of them spoke, they drank. As always, the elvish wine was nonpareil, but the exquisite taste was an afterthought in the presence of Kasvarina herself. It was odd that she hadn’t spoken yet, and that small doubt caused him to notice a magical resonance, the sign of a charm or illusion which he should have been able to pierce with his truesight. Whatever was creating it must have been very powerful indeed. Kasvarina must have noticed the shift in his expression, as she reached out and touched his hand. “Please do not try to see through my illusion,” she said. “Trust me. Your questions will be answered very soon. But for now, I would like us to lie together, just as we did here not so long ago.” Leon agreed wholeheartedly, and they did so. When he awoke, many hours later, he was alone in bed, and alarmed to notice small bloodstains on his body and on the bedclothes. There were many of them and the blood was not his. He stood, dressed and left the bedroom he and Kasvarina had created, to find a sobbing woman at the table in the main chamber. He recognised her to be Helandra, the ananta paudha whom Gupta had killed and then revived. She looked up, saw him and was wracked by even greater sobs. Leon thought she looked wan, not just emotionally drained, but physically too. “I wish you had been able to hear me,” she said. “Perhaps together we would have been able to dissuade her. But her magic was so powerful! I even reached out and took hold of you, shouted in your face, but you couldn’t see or hear.” “Where is Kasvarina?” he asked. “Through there,” she said, gesturing to a new door; not a portal to a new place, but an internal door to a new room within the Chamber itself. “And Beshela?” This, an afterthought. “Gone. She is haughty, and would not wait for you. She left through one of the portals. She said you would have to resume your quest alone, as she had no intention of returning to the Cold Claw Sea.” Leon shrugged. He went through the new door, and Helandra rose shakily and followed him. As they went she said, “She was so badly injured. The titan’s magic had poisoned her and she said that nothing could be done. But she didn’t seem to care. All she cared about was meeting you again. Once that was done, she created this place, and used the last of her magic to…” The new room looked like some sort of magical or medical laboratory, lit by the green glow of a strange lamp that hung from the ceiling. Beneath there were two cold slabs of stone, upon which lay recumbent forms – one entirely covered by a white sheet; the second, Kasvarina. She was dead. Leon closed his eyes and mastered his emotions, then looked again. Her flesh was taught and pallid, her robes bloody, and the smell of rot was no longer masked by the illusory scent she had conjured. Helandra was still speaking. Leon focused on the words he had missed and found he could still hear them, echoing in his mind. Helandra said that Kasvarina had used the last of her strength to create a new person, what she had described as a being ‘formed from all the good within her’. Hanging in the lamp was all her spite and anger – which had festered within her ever since the loss of both her daughters – as well as a soul-poison inflicted by the Voice of Rot. “The serpent’s bite poisons not just the body, but the eternal spirit.” It was this poison, Helandra told him through her tears, which had caused Kasvarina to abandon her own body, unable to find a cure in time – or unwilling to do so once she had set her mind on this extreme solution. “I told her it was madness, but she would not listen. Now there she lies. She warned me not to go near or tamper with the lamp. Much of her initial energy went into crafting it. It is a prison, she said. Once that was done, she devoted herself to the creation of the form beneath the sheet. This endeavour took many days, it seemed, though time passes strangely here. Each step of the process required me to give up some of my blood. She could not use her own, as it was poisoned and she was too weak. I am beginning to think now that it is the only reason she brought me here.” At this, she looked bereft. Although he already knew the answer, Leon asked how Kasvarina’s injuries had come about. Helandra said, “I thought you knew. I thought she must have told you. We travelled to a silver ring she told me was the plane of time, and there she meditated for as long as she could. Before long, the serpent of the swamps arrived and challenged her. Kasvarina drew her sword and fought him. Even now I cannot think why she did not simply flee. When the titan proved too strong to best with her most powerful magic, she spared a moment to send me here, so I did not see the end. After a while I began to fear that she was already dead, but then the door to Reida opened again and she fell through.” The memory caused Helandra to weep again. “I wish she had chosen someone else. I was so proud when she chose me.” Leon said something soothing and moved to the covered form. He stood looking down at it for a while, then gently turned down the sheet over its face. It was Lavanya. Suddenly, everything made sense and no sense all at once. A flood of answers begat more questions. But the turmoil in his mind was short-lived, as it ceased when her eyes snapped open. Lavanya made eye-contact at once, smiled, rose, and kissed him, as warmly as Kasvarina had. When she did so, the sheet fell away entirely from her naked form, but she showed no sense of shame or shyness. “It is strange,” she said, happily. “I know who you are, although we have never met. I have never ‘met’ anyone have I?” Then she looked across at Kasvarina and said, “I think I know almost everything she knew. You must be very sad to have lost her.” Leon said that he was. Then he said that he loved Lavanya too, and now understood how he had been able to love them both with equal intensity. “That is good,” said Lavanya. “I am pleased. Now come on. Find me some clothes. We have a lot of work to do and I can’t run round the multiverse stark naked.” [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
Top