Aphonion Tales (New posts 6/13, 6/15, 6/19)

[Cerebral Paladin]

Yeah. It's funny-- I didn't like it when I first encountered it, and I still don't have PCs in games I run do it, but it does produce some interesting effects.

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Shortly after Kit reported back on her efforts to develop a rumor network, the page of the day poked his head into the Council chamber. “Excuse me, your eminent grace, but the young drow is still in the hallway, groveling.”

Alistair sighed. “Tell him to inform his mistress that we will receive her… let’s see, we don’t want to slight her, but we don’t want to lose face by seeming too available… we will receive her late this afternoon.”

The Council welcomed the Matron Mother in one of the formal throne rooms. Dame Brionna supervised her arrival, noting that she was a drowan woman of striking appearance and evident age, a very unusual characteristic among the drow. Even before Dame Brionna could ask them to, the Matron Mother and her four guards, all female, began disarming themselves. The process was long and involved as they removed both the obvious weapons and a remarkable series of concealed blades. The Matron Mother herself had by far the largest number of weapons. When she was finally ready, Dame Brionna gestured for her to enter the throne room and the Matron Mother calmly walked in, followed by a chest that walked under its own power and her clearly very nervous guards.

Alistair and Kit were talking quietly as the Matron Mother entered. She walked forward, stopped ten paces away from the throne, and genuflected, remaining prone and silent until acknowledged. Alistair noted the distance with interest, as it was a longer, more respectful distance than he would have expected from a drowan leader. He continued talking quietly with Kit, apparently ignoring the presence of the Matron Mother. She appeared to be treating him the way she would treat another Supreme Matron Mother of one of the 38 drowan great houses, and Alistair judged that the best response would be to behave as the leader of a drow house would when receiving an equal.

After a few minutes, Alistair turned to face the Matron Mother. With a carefully uninterested tone, he said, “Yes? You wished to impose on our time?”

The drow matriarch smoothly rose to her feet and then bowed from the waist as she spoke. “Thank you for the boon of this audience. I am the Supreme Matron Mother of my House. I wished to convey the deepest gratitude of my House. You saved my House’s honor by revealing our error to us.”

Alistair waved a hand dismissively. “We pursued our own goals. It served our purpose to inform you of how you had erred.”

“Nonetheless, you have our gratitude, and we would offer some gifts as an expression of our thanks.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

She waited for a signal, and at a small nod from Alistair continued. “You have already received our gift of state, an extensive set of maps of the Underdark. After considerable consideration, I have prepared personal gifts for yourself and your counselors. I will provide as well a piece of information that may be useful to you.” The Matron Mother drew the first gift out of the chest that had trailed behind her. “For Dame Brionna, I present this adamantine buckler, blazoned with the ancient arms of your house. We were careful to work the adamantium without the use of freesia radiation so that it will not degrade when exposed to the sun. In recognition of your principal duty, the shield will produce an orb of force once per month that will protect you and one other from all harm for a period of ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” said Dame Brionna as she took the shield. “I hope I will rarely need to call on that power, but it will be most useful if I ever need to.”

“For Dame Katherine, your position is more delicate, more feminine, if you do not mind my saying so. It required a great deal of thought to discern what might be appropriate. I have had a bustier prepared for you, similar to the one I wear. While some great houses prefer the fireball and lightning bolt throwing bustiers, I prefer a dart thrower, as it is both more subtle and can be more effective. It holds but three darts per nipple. I have also prepared a supply of some 400 additional darts with which it can be reloaded. All have been treated with our sleep poison.” [DC 17 sleep poison, duration 1-6 minutes]

Kit carefully examined the black leather bustier, with its intricate bone ribbing and the mechanism so cleverly concealed that even without other clothes over the bustier, it was hard to notice. “My thanks for both the great craftsmanship this gift demonstrates and the appreciation for subtlety that motivated it.”

The Matron Mother smiled slightly at that praise. “Finally, for the Archduke himself, we prepared this.” She held forth her hand with a small adamantine serpent with ruby eyes. “Its name is Snick. Under normal circumstances, it can appear as a bracelet, but it is intelligent, although a construct. It generates its own poison. And, for when you need a tiny spy, if you say the command word, you can see through its eyes and hear through its ears.” [(DC 16 sleep poison, 1-6 rounds), 6 times per day; AC 42, 26 hp (with a hardness of 20)]

“We thank you for all of these gifts,” said Alistair, coiling Snick around his wrist.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

The matriarch bowed. “And now, I promised you a piece of information. Your enemy, who is also our enemy, has traveled far to the south since he entered the Underways. Though he was injured when he entered the Underways, he and those with him were able to resist the troglodyte slave race. They have hired four hundred mercenaries--drow who know no masters or mistresses, those who serve the God of Masks or the God of Worms. They have forgotten their ancient feud and have followed him to the south. We believe he will surface at the point nearest Seachen.”

“Thank you for this, above all, for information is the most valuable of all possible gifts.”

“We are willing to keep you apprised of any further movements of which we become aware.”

“That would be most appreciated. We should, perhaps, discuss maintaining contact in the future. I might send an emissary to your home city. It would facilitate sharing information that can be mutually beneficial.”

“Indeed. I shall leave one of my males-- I shall leave one of my junior officers to staff an embassy at the rooms of the inn at which we have been staying. After the service your house has done mine, we would be most interested in building our ties.”

“It was but a trifle.”

“Nonetheless, your grace, it is of such trifles that alliances between great houses are made.”

“Let me ask you,” continued Alistair brusquely, as the drow would expect, “Are there other threats from the Underdark that we should watch, besides our mutual enemy? And are there drowan great houses that you would warn us against?”

“I could warn you to watch the cult of the Worm. They grow in activity and represent a grave threat. As for the other drowan great houses… even if we become close allies, we would not expect you to limit your trade to our allies, as you are a surface people. However, of the great houses, I would warn you of two houses. One is not an enemy of ours, but has tendencies, the House of Erebani. The other is a house that is our enemy, best known for extreme and unwarranted cruelty, and that is the House of Mylyl. They are allied to the Russet Shelf Fungi merchant clan, just as we have considerable dealings with the Teal Curve.”

“That information may prove useful.” Alistair paused, giving both his friends and the drow matriarch the time to volunteer anything additional or ask further questions. After a few seconds of silence, he waved the drow away coldly. “Dismissed.” As part of the pretense of behaving how a drowan great house leader would, he immediately pulled Kit over to him, as if the drow were not even present.

Upon being told that they were dismissed, the drow matriarch and her guards immediately and rapidly genuflected and then backed out of the room as quickly and quietly as they could. They averted their eyes as they went, doing nothing that might draw attention to the fact that they were still there.

As soon as they were gone, Alistair apologized to Kit. “Sorry about that-- I just thought it would be valuable to make the right sort of impression.”

“It’s fine. I understood.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“And now I guess we need to set up an audience with the Archbaroness of Mandrath. She may be Paranswarmian, but at least we won’t have to be deliberately rude to avoid seeming weak. It will be something of a relief to be able to be ordinarily polite to someone.”

“Your grace, before we do that, I would like to check all of the items for evil and to have them examined for curses or the like.” Dame Brionna held out her sun disk. “Huh. None of the gifts are evil.” A more thorough examination confirmed that they were also free of curses. The shield had a lingering psionic effect, but that was probably just a result of the forging process. Besides that, the only magic or psionic effects were the ones that the matriarch had described.

Before the meeting with the Archbaroness, the Council conferred briefly with the chamberlain. In response to the Council’s questioning, the chamberlain explained that the Archbaroness was not a member of the Order of the Pure Azure Flame and could not be a member of any of the other orders. Each order is dedicated to a specific religion and there is only one order per religion. The only exception to that rule is the Order of the Pure Ebon Flame, which is not devoted to any god, but even that order is connected to a religion of sorts--its members are associated with the worship of the archdevils.

The Archbaroness entered in a formal gown. She wore a thin adamantine chain with silver through her hair and dropping to her belt, with a pin in her colors but not her arms. Alistair recognized the chain as a symbol of service to the Protector and Defender of the Faith of Paranswarm. The Archbaroness bowed respectfully, as one sovereign to another, and Alistair returned the bow.

“Your eminent grace, I bear greetings from the Grand Duchess of Ergmoth and from the Council of Paranswarm.”

“We welcome their emissary to our court.”

“There are several things I wish to discuss. First, there is the matter of a gift that I purchased on my way here. I was fortunately able to come directly east to here and was thus able to stop in the realm of Hanal. On behalf of the Council, this certificate represents the purchase and payment in full of twenty men-of-war from the voller yards of Hanal. These should arrive within a year’s time and with the promise that they will be of the same box as the voller for the navy of Hanal. Also, in my own name and out of my own funds, I present certificates of purchase and manumission of 1000 halflings from the slave farms of Hanal. We have transported them to just north of the border.”

Even Dame Brionna’s suspicion of the Paranswarmian thawed some in response to that gift. It was perfectly designed to appeal to the Council. The vollers would represent an enormous increase in the Archduchy’s air power, with serious strategic consequences, and the manumission of slaves supported one of the Council’s clearest policies. The Council thanked the Archbaroness heartily.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“Moving on from the gifts, there is an issue that you should be informed of. Your grace will of course be aware of the recent completion of the Inquisition on Drucien. The Inquisition took action against many groups with vile practices. What you are probably not aware of are the two most pernicious of those groups. While the Grand Duchess has been firm with any practice of demonism, she has been gentler than many in her position would have been. For other groups, there could be no mercy or hesitation at all. The two pernicious cults were the cult of the Abomination of Shur and the cult of the Many-Tongued Worm.”

“We are well aware of the Abomination of Shur. The Archduchy has been taking strong action against the Abomination and its allies.”

“That is well, but it is the Grand Duchess’s belief that the cult of the Many Tongued Worm poses the greater long term threat. Lord Paranswarm received no less than 9900 members of the cult to his Eternal Darkness. Furthermore, three separate factions of the cult indicated connections to the outer duchies in Canberry. The lack of an Inquisition may have allowed things to breed that should not have.”

“There will be no Inquisition here,” responded Alistair, “but we can investigate them.”

“Holy might will need to be brought to bear if they are located,” warned the Archbaroness.

“While we do not have an Inquisition, we have many church knights.” Dame Brionna’s tone was perhaps a little huffier than ideal, but the assumption that the Inquisition was an altogether good thing offended her.

“Scribes will forward to you the most relevant confessions and names.”

“Can you tell us anything about the cults that we could use to begin our investigations in the meantime?” asked Kit.

“Some of the situations were grim. Fortunately, only a few seemed to impact Canberry.” The Archbaroness thought about the most important pieces of information. “We believe the cult of the Many Tongued Worm has a connection to the rise of the island in the Eastern Sea.”

Alistair looked up intently at that. “An island of black stone?”

“Yes,” confirmed the Archbaroness, pleased that Canberry was aware of the island. “We have tried to investigate by ship, with ships from Masque, but no ships have returned, even though we sent four warships with full complements of marines, mages, and priests. The vollers have been more successful. Two from Hanal have seen it with the aid of optical devices and reported negotiations with the ratmen.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“Do you know who the Unspeakable is?”

“No… I have not heard that title.”

“One of our diviners had a vision of the black-stone isle. He saw skaven offering an alliance to the residents of the island. They said they sought alliance with the ‘Unspeakable.’ We have as yet been able to learn nothing more.”

“May I bring this to the Council? I do not know what that would mean, but it may be that we can learn more from it.”

“Of course. We are sharing this information with you because of our desire to enable both our faiths to act effectively against our mutual enemy. We only ask that if the Council does have more information on who or what the Unspeakable is, that you inform us as well.”

“You mentioned the Worm… is that one of Borsh’tro’s followers?”

“The Many Tongued Worm appears to be of neither Borsh’tro nor Arthranax. It is the worm that when its head is cut off grows two more.”

“The hydra,” said Dame Brionna. “Your grace… I remember something related from my youth. When I was very young, about five, a serving maid in the household of whom she was never fond, was found by my mother, doing something, but I am not sure exactly what. The servant was horse-whipped and driven out of the house. She cursed the family in the name of the Many Tongued Worm, and my parents had a long talk with a priestess of Berta. They discussed how worrisome it was that a cult was trying to bring back one of the old progenitors of chaos, a lord of life and death that was banished from shortly after these realms were created. They said that at one time, his servants gathered at mountains of ebon and basalt, and his servants were not of the younger races. But the priest told my parents not to worry, since they were gone from ages ago. But then, the priests of Berta were fools, and could not recognize the threat that menaced our lands until the Kingdoms were destroyed.”

Alistair frowned. “We’ll certainly want you to follow up on that.”

“I’ll ask my parents for more details, your grace.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“Does the reference to elder races mean anything to you, Archbaroness? Have there been beings more ancient than humanity among the cults you have dealt with?”

“It is difficult to say. Only twice did we find nonhumans among the cults. Both were in rural cults, and in both cases they set upon the train of the Inquisition in an attempt to slay the Grand Duchess. In both cases, they came in the semblance of farmers and goodwives, but the seeming was stripped away, revealing creatures--- well, worm was appropriate. We were never able to confirm that they were allied to the Abomination of Shur’s cult. There was cooperation among cells, but that meant nothing.

“You should know what little more we have learned of the Many Tongued Worm’s followers. We are aware of four centers for its followers that have emerged worldwide: the eastern island, an island off the southern coast of Khamista, a mountain in the southeast of Drucien against the lands of the Skaven, and a center within the Arctic Circle.” [I have a note that says “no connections to the mountain in the southeast,” but I don’t know what that means.]

“We will investigate any reports we hear of them, and if we learn of any other foci for its power, we will pass that information along as well.” Alistair waited for a moment to see if the Archbaroness would make any additional comments, then proceeded. “We have mentioned the Abomination of Shur several times, but I would like to discuss a few more specific things in detail. As you may know, a large army supporting the Abomination is marching on the Spice Lands. We believe that it intends to perform a ritual of apotheosis there. We are mobilizing our forces, and those of our allies, in an effort to defeat its army and prevent it from reaching the ritual site.”

The Archbaroness nodded. “We have been following your actions and have been pleased to see that a great power is taking actions to stop the Abomination.”

“As part of our effort, we have been trying to draw allies in. With our commitments among the refugees and the need to maintain a defensive force in the Archduchy, we need additional forces. We have been attempting to persuade the Baron of Augurt to commit his house’s forces, but without success so far. We wondered if you might help to convince him.”

“Ah. The Baron is a cautious man, from what I hear, but very faithful.”

“We thought that perhaps the Temple could be more persuasive than we could.”

“Perhaps. The positioning allows me to stop at Augurt on my way back, before the baron can return. This will allow me to speak to the Archbishop in private. I can promise that the Archbishop will attempt to persuade the Baron, but I can promise no more.”

“That is still a significant gain. The battle will currently be desperately close. Any additional troops could make the difference, particularly because most of the troops that will currently face the Abomination’s army will be very green.”

“I can also dispatch two regiments of the Order of the Ebon Shield under my own authority. I know that it is not many troops, but they will be well equipped with holy might and should be utterly fearless. That should help bolster the morale of the troops they are joining.”

“Thank you.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“By the way, it is wise that you have committed forces among the refugees. We have some priests and church knights tending to their needs, but the situation remains dangerously unstable.”

“Our thoughts exactly. We should also discuss a matter involving the refugees. As you know, I will need to marry soon. One of the possibilities would be to marry Princess Kaitlyn of Stormreach. If we did marry, we would seek to annex all of the refugee lands. Would your temple object or create any difficulties?”

“No. We would ideally prefer to see the lands come under a Paranswarmian ruler, but stability in the South is more important. We would prefer your control of the region to the current disorder.”

“Excellent. And you understand that if we do annex the refugee lands, the Church of Glor’diadel will necessarily follow the banner of Canberry into those lands? Cuius regio, eius religio, and all that?”

The Archbaroness answered very carefully. “We understand, and we would discontinue our prosyletization. At the same time, it would create difficulties if you interfered with the observances of those who have already entered Lord Paranswarm’s service.”

“As with Canberry itself, we would permit the worship of any of the gods of the Ecumenical Alliance. We would ask that you draw the priests for any of our lands from the orders that are least likely to give offense, and certain rituals, such as human sacrifice, would not be permitted, even with condemned prisoners. But I should not think that we would have any more problems in the southlands than in the present Archduchy.”

“I agree. Those terms would be acceptable to the Temple. While we are on the subject of state religions and tolerance, I would ask if you could do anything to moderate the behavior of the Temple of Sytry. They are a religion of the Light and thus easier for you to approach than for us. But we do not know if you are aware of some of the acts of their more fanatical Knights of Truth near Mandrath.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“What sort of acts?”

“The incident I know of most directly happened after the lands to the east had fallen, although most have now been reclaimed. Four thousand troops were sent from our lands to meet the 25,000 refugees. When they met the train, a force of Knights of Truth had required conversion in exchange for their aid, which was sorely needed, and they had made an example of several hundred who refused to convert. I see nothing wrong with seeking to convert refugees but to cause death for those who do not… Now, nearly seven years later, I am still not sure how we should act. I of course obey the commandments of the Protector and the Council, but it bothers me.”

The Council simply listened in horror for a few moments. Finally, Dame Brionna asked quietly, “Does their entire temple encourage such things, your excellence?”

“No. It is only the most fanatical who do so; indeed, always their paladins.”

“It’s hard to imagine any paladin allowing the innocent to die. Certainly, none of ours ever would.”

“I know. The Eldar might be able to speak to it. A lord from the Steading of the Elven Lords intervened in one such situation. There were similar incidents reported in merchant cities after the fall of Purdun. We felt that while many of them were without help or were of your faith, it was our duty to offer succor without expectation of conversion. They did not kill anyone directly, but they refused aid, leading to the death of many young.”

Alistair shook his head in horror, and then asked, “Are you sure the reports are true? Pardon me for questioning the story, but we know that there are tensions between your faith and Sytry’s. There have been many claims of wrongs on both sides.” He did not really believe the Archbaroness would be deceived but clung to the hope that the reports might be false.

“I am afraid that I am very sure of the reports. As you say, the relationship has been strained for a very long time. Unfortunately, that does not change what we know to have happened. As I said, perhaps the Eldar can provide you with confirmation. In any event, as you may be able to have more influence with them than we could ever hope to, and both our faiths are active among the refugees in the southlands, I thought I would bring it to Canberry’s attention.”

“Indeed. We will look into this matter, and if we can confirm your reports, we will approach the Temple of Sytry about it.”

“Thank you, your grace. I can ask nothing more. That is all of the matters that I had for our discussion. Are there any other issues you would raise?”

Dame Brionna cleared her throat. “As we mentioned, his grace will need to make a dynastic match soon. Are there any possibilities that you know of that we are not aware of, perhaps from further away?” She resolutely ignored the uncomfortable looks on the faces of both Alistair and Kit at the topic.

“Perhaps… I can think of one. Would you consider a widow, your grace?”

“We might, if the circumstances were right.”

“Then at least consider the Lady of Purdun. They have reclaimed much of the island kingdom, and there is substantial magic and even great wealth to be had there. She is even of the same faith as you. She loved the Blue Mage, but he could of course not produce an heir for her dynasty. Now that he is gone, she will need to remarry.”

“He could not produce an heir? Why?” asked Alistair.

“The great color mages are consumed by their color and cannot produce children. Their apprentices can still have children, even after they are marked by the color-- there are occasional dynasties based on children sired or born before ascending. But once the color completely infuses them, they lose that ability.”

“Thank you. We will consider the possibility.”

“Every major family on Khamista is courting her, but you might still be able to prevail. If I had a brother, he would be courting her, even if I had to stand behind her with a whip.”

They thanked the Archbaroness, and she departed. The Council briefly discussed the newly revealed threat and the possibility that the cult worshipped something trapped within the black mountains and islands, or might be responsible for the unusable land on the west coast. Still, there was nothing to do at this point but to seek more information.

[End Session 21]

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I'm going to be travelling for the coming week, attending some weddings and taking a vacation. I don't expect to be able to post again until July 9.

 

[Quartz]

I'm going to be travelling for the coming week, attending some weddings and taking a vacation. I don't expect to be able to post again until July 9.

Howl! Wail! Whimper!!