Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)

[CPaladin]

Session 55 (November 11, 2012)

Skard 18
We meet with Baroness Castilia.

It is true that a large daemonic army marched on the Larnelam Hills some years ago; they took some of the hinterlands, and were then annihilated. We assumed it was some of the Eldar from the Steading of the Elven Lords.

A: The Noldar do not believe so.

Then it is almost surely an Eldron. A full tor of the faerie would be the only other group that could likely do that, and that is even less likely. [We discuss sending a united group—she suggests some Tarkenians to balance the Paranswarmians—perhaps 3 and 3.]

There is also a dwarven dig.

Ah yes. Batarak Dur. The dwarves there act very oddly—not like dwarves. They are very artistic. Dwarves are almost never artistic. And for generations on end? Unheard of. And the statue is not of a dwarf—the proportions are wrong, and there is no beard on the featureless face.

There are crazy people in those hills. Some of the dwarves go mad. Some are harmless, simply wandering off to eat roots and animals in the woods. But some are given a wide berth.

It is said that some of those who work on the face are those that go mad. But not all of them.

I believe that I have been told that those who are nulls show no such effect. [We discuss this—it could be an unintended side effect (maybe there’s a psionic artifact in the head?), that Eldron might not care, there might be something else going on.]

We should perhaps send either nulls or psions.

Kit says nulls—we can’t risk sending psions if they might be rendered insane. Baroness Castillia agrees, but says that they will have difficulty—the Grand Duchess does not favor nulls. But they will try to find 3.

The third site: the domed city of the elves: I can inquire of Tarsh, but I would caution you to not be as trusting of Tarsh as the rest of the Darkness.

We confirm that we understand this. It is still deeply unsettled.

I can provide you a base—my lands of Mandrath have ports, and I can find skilled sailors and a discreet warship. We will need to take a circuitous route to avoid the pirates. But we can also increase our patrols—we seek to avoid conflict, but we also maintain a clear line.

Two dioceses that I would suggest for recruiting people on Drucien. There is a diocese in Enclaves that is utterly loyal—devoted to the Weeping Woman mostly, but loyal. The other is the archdiocese of Masque. They are also loyal, but wilder.

We agree that the people from Enclaves would be best. (Unlike the Baroness, we are not concerned about the idea that the Weeping Woman might be heterodox.)

Kit contacts her agent on the fan in the Black Forest (the White Witch’s domain).

They have been working on Batarak Dur for 1000 years or more—1200 years or so. At first they would work to the point of death, without even eating. They have gotten better about personal maintenance over time-eating, bathing to deal with the lice. The Gray Covens keep an eye on them, there are only a few thousand. They appear no threat to the border. Two years ago, several small groups of four dwarves, better equipped than most, have headed out—at least six groups and possibly more, although if they went directly north, they would presumably have died, and if they went east, they would have gone straight into the Steading. They all headed out at the same time. We don’t know what they were looking for. They simultaneously left, precisely from the place of the statute on the twelfth bell of the fall equinox, two years ago. According to the official record, for the first several days (at least), they traveled precisely the same number of miles each day.

Have any psions traveled near to the statue? The Queen has ruled for many years—it is almost like she is not human. She commanded long ago—about two hundred years ago-- that none of the Gifted and none of the Covens are to approach the statue. We spy on them with flyers, but we do not approach them. They undoubtedly spy on us.

Kit: Was that when they started working on the face? Yes, and when the madmen started leaving the statue. They are immune to many spells, and extremely violent—at least some of them.

The first one took a great toll on the White Legions, and the White Legions are very well trained. They just kept coming until they were hacked into gobbets, as if they were propelled somehow. But they were not demonically active. They do not seem to have the same immunity to priestly magic.

It was the archbishop that brought the second one to a stop. He issued a rebuke against it, the way you might with undead?

She explains that she could investigate. It might be dangerous, but we kept our part of the bargain. We took her daughter, who was touched by the light—the daughter of a seraphim and her. And so she drove her lover forth, but begged for some way to save the child. And then within days a page of the court contacted her, and her predecessor’s predecessor offered to take in the child, raise it within a decent family within the light.
[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 55 cont'd]
While Dame Brionna is on patrol in the lower quarter, with 3 guards: One of the guards disappears suddenly.

Dame Brionna and one of the other guards see the edge of the building that they are next to quiver. Dame Brionna pokes the side of the building with her polearm and the building attacks her. The polearm sticks into a sort of gelatinous substance; she pulls the pole back, and there’s a smoking mass at the end of the pole.

One of the other guards also attacks the building. The whole side of the building begins slurping off and heading rapidly for the sewer.

Brionna and the guards attack it with torches—it catches on fire, and then explodes. The bones of the dead guard (with a little flesh) are left behind.

Brionna sends the rest of the guard out searching for more of these things. One is found, but escapes into the sewer.

“Oh, are we getting another infestation of jellies? I thought we wiped them out seven years ago.”

We dispatch people to deal with it—mostly Kit’s people, and skewing towards the people who dealt with it last time. They locate the small pockets that have grown back, and the ministry of magic can deal with them. Which is pretty much regular sewer maintenance.

Kit meets with Baroness Castillia’s older advisor—the psion with the psionically active umbrella.

They meet in a private passageway. She has the umbrella open—crystals hang down all around it, like tassles. She spins the umbrella, and a shimmery surface forms between the two of them and the outside world.

“You are the Archduke’s security master?”

“Yes. And you are my counterpart?”

“A counterpart of sorts—I work for the Grand Duchess of Ergmoth, although the Baroness does not know. She is a dear friend of the Grand Duchess, but there needs to be a level head around, with a source of information.”

“The Grand Duchess cares about dealing with the cultists above all else. The Grand Duchess knows that your forces are strained, and that you are planning on making a purchase of mercenaries. I am authorized to offer you the service of five elite regiments of her mother’s kinfolk. It would only be 500, but they would be useful—they are powerful individually.”

“What is being asked in return?”

“A permanent commitment to thwarting the Goddess of the Pale Bone. You are young. You can only guide him partially. If she is not completely sealed off, she has other aspects.” She gives Kit a serious look. “The regiments can be available immediately, but they are only available for six months time.”

Drowan Wizard cavalry. Many advantages. Only a few energy lances among the officers.

Do you know of the other powers of the fan? It was made by the same artificer as the fan. The umbrella can create a zone of protection, as it is currently. It can apport myself and one other for several miles. The fan likely has similar abilities.

Lady Elsbeth Pecom—Kit gives her one of the boxes of gating.
[End session 55]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 56 (January 23, 2013)

Skard 19
Kit reports new problems and old problems all at the same time. She got a message this morning that is at least 7 months old. An agent in Hanal cut herself off from the Fan and her predecessor. There is weird stuff going on in Magdag; she thinks the cov is in on it. The cov of Magdag is not a friend to the nobles who support the sane daughter. The inquisitor of Magdag has been replaced. Also, the necropolis and precinct is being carved up and having sigils being carved and so forth. Hundreds of slaves are reported dead, death taxes paid by the cov, but actually being shipped south by ship (with weapons, in small groups on small boats). The heir to the throne (eldest sister) wants to kill Anastasia; intends to give her over to demons. (Middle sister is just insane.) The worst aspect is that this intelligence is more than seven months old. (There was a shortage of bonded couriers.) Kit has her secretary start trying to secure more bonded couriers.

Magdag is one of the coastal cities.

We agree that we need to pass on the information to our allies in Darkness. We haven’t had any contact with Anastasia in some time. Last we knew, the Strom was with her.

We discuss the people searching for the wings of Ancalagon the Black; an amalgam of evil creatures from the deep south were searching for them. They made forays toward the area north of Enclaves, but they were driven forth.

We ask if Lord Davion is available, since he would likely know if the wings of Ancalagon are limited to transporting undead.

"The legend, which I can verify is truthful, states that the wings of Ancalagon, the Archon of black dragons, can move a great army by night to anywhere on the same continent, and of buttressing that army. The army must be an army of the dead. The buttressing would both make them resistant to turning, but also strengthen the bone to the strength of dragonbone. They would remain unintelligent, but be much more capable." Lord Davion thinks about Magdag for a while, and then recalls the acid springs. "Magdag is highly regarded among my paternal people as being an example of how utterly base human can be. If you take the normal Hanalian focus on the dead, the way that all of their cities build great necropolises over the huts in which many of the living live, Magdag takes that to new heights, with great farms of goats, pigs, and great fisheries, to support an army of workers that work on the necropolis of Magdag. Morgrathians and Noldar have been there; it is more debased than any orcish culture, but doesn’t know it. However, they have never given the ruling royalty of Hanal reason to doubt their loyalty. They have a large sea fleet, although very few followers.

"The battle of the red and green has persisted in Magdag; it has faded elsewhere in Hanal. All of the Hanalian nobles claim one shade or another in green. The slaves claim red; some in Magdag remember the red sun and the red moon, and remember that at one time they had cities and nobles in red. The early myths of humans stated that there was a sun for each moon. This was before the coming of the worship of Paranswarm, and the family—Thyastis’s family—ritualized the wearing of green and pushed red out of the culture. Those who followed the color red were common people; they waited for the red sun to redeem their labor, perhaps also with their blood. Green was originally war bands, which gradually became nobility. The other colors of the mystery schools were of course silver and blue. They ignored the purple moon altogether."

Alistair points out that the red moon is the moon of evil, the silver moon is the moon of good, with the lesser moons not as important.

"The struggle between red and green was the dominant struggle in Hanal; the silver school was much smaller, though powerful."

[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 56 cont'd]
We summon the Minister of Magic. The green moon is the moon of growth. There were other smaller factions once. The faction of silver was never large, but it had great power. At one time the silver faction included almost all of the mages. We never had any touch with them in our recorded history. There are few real mages in Hanal now; a handful, but mostly clockwork mages and engineers in the valarworks, the flame cannon manufactories. The flame cannons focus the sun’s energy through a series of prisms, producing as great heat as any fireball any wizard could make. They’re worthless at night. But deployed properly by day, they earn their name. There are a handful of court magicians; any of the level of strom or above is permitted a single house mage. They are generally trained in Paranswarmian academies elsewhere in the world. Many of the gifted are put to death by witchfinders as children, typically in the necropolises.

A: Would that create magical energy that could be used?

Yes, if they had any people who were capable.

Couldn’t be Paranswarm—totally opposed to the creation of mindless undead.

They called themselves the Silver Order.

The Minister of Magic and the Minister of Mind could scry on Hanal safely; but it would be an act of espionage and indeed an act of war. The Queen-Empress would almost certainly regard it as one.

Kit goes to speak to the Master Farsensor. Could the fan be compromised? It can’t be tapped—impossible. But it is not impossible to discover activity, not on the fan, but by the person.

She shows him the letter. She was the scion of a forging and merchant house, the Clan of Leutteur, they sold fine weapons, but were not well trusted because they purchased their iron from dwarves. Sometime about 4 months ago, a group of people came for them. Her father had great hope for her; he sent his daughter away. He was seized and is no more on this plane. He gave her to friends—merchant shipmen, they have hidden her. They are on the Lee Islands, but they have been attacked several times. They will never make it to the mainland—the things that hunt them are not mortal. Three minds: a great fish surrounded by mucus, an aboleth I think, but twisted even by their standards; one a demonic squire, child’s play for me, but for the crew of this ship, it would slaughter them like chaff; the last is a cat. They seek to prevent her from returning to you. She carries a package, and has carried it for months. I cannot touch this package, it has no signature.

I am seeking for the nearest elven ship. Oh. Would you request my counterpart, the Champion of the Court, to join us? It would be inappropriate for me to ask him, and he would have to contact the only ship close enough to reach them before the fish creature. There is a Noldar war schooner, a Moriquendarim pleasure vessel for a young Noldar, less than a millennium, in the area. If Lord Davion informed them, they could easily save her and the sailors. Actually, if Lord Davion and the Farsensor work together, they could teleport her directly here. They agree to move somewhere where there aren’t wards that will prevent her teleporting in.

They teleport her in. They then wander off.

"I have brought a package. This has greatly upset somebody. It is alive, but I’m not sure what it is. It has several of its brethren in Magdag and they have a lot of power. And they like to drink."

"You got it drunk and put it in your bag of holding? Good work."

She is Isabella; she had never forgotten her mother, who was from Canberry, the daughter of one of the merchant houses.

Kit takes her to Lady Constance, who brings it to a specially sealed prison cell. Oh, translucent. You don’t see that very often. It looks almost like a horned human, four feet tall, with translucent flesh and pearlescent bones. Not from this plane; not from the Hells or the Abyss; and very angry. Lady Constance summons a devil up. "That thing in the cage—"

"You should kill it."

"Yes probably, but what is it?"

"It’s a second stage bone abomination of the One Beside."

Kit says, "I thought we were dealing with the Goddess of the Pale Bone."

"You might be, but you are also dealing with the One Beside. He’s not good for much. He can raise a fair-sized undead army, but that’s all."

"Exactly how large a 'fair-sized army?'"

"Acting alone, maybe 5,000."

"There were 4 of these in Magdag," Isabella clarifies. "They stay close to the covs residence."

"What else can you tell me about him?"

"He has some fighting prowess."

"What would it take to summon one of these onto this plane?"

"You almost can’t. It’s said that there are a couple of artifacts that would let you do it. They’re not like the Goddess of the Pale Bone. There’s no real connection to this plane, and the One Beside has the least connection.

"The Horn of Moriquendarim could do that, but we know that that’s in the Twin Cities of the Gates of Death; you’d have to kill all of the Noldar to get that; there are the wings of Ancalagon the Black—they’re pretty connected to the undead you know. It can only be done on some moon or another when it’s full, or when you have that special festival. The one where the Red Moon and another moon is full. Then you can summon a bunch of them, but it would tap the wings for sixty days, leaving them without power until they recharged. They could have a wing—the first wing was up north near the steading of Lady Jane. The second wing was buried with another artifact under the City of Enclaves. I think it was part of a collection—not originally intended that way, but now it’s a collection. Many missions have gone searching for Ancalagon the Black. Many of his bones have power. Remember, he is the only Archon that has fallen. One of those expeditions found the wing and brought it back, and the guardians under the city talked among themselves and decided that it shouldn’t be in mortal hands. So they took it. It’s had some strange effects—some of the guardians have been changed. Into undead—intelligent sorts, but undead.

"Nobody sane among your race ever thought the wings of Ancalagon were a good idea."
[cont'd]

 

[Quartz]

Ah, someone had read the adventure from Dungeon with the house hunters.

 

[CPaladin]

Ah, someone had read the adventure from Dungeon with the house hunters.

Not surprising--the DM used to, at least, read pretty much everything released for D&D. I missed the sourcing on those ideas, because I never read Dungeon.

------
[Session 56 cont'd]
"The wings are intelligent. Put them in the hand of any person with basic magical powers, and it can figure out what needs doing. Summoning those things is a pyramiding move."

"Are there other stage abominations?"
"There are other stages, but they cannot be summoned with the wing. These are the least cut off of its servants. Also the least in power."

"Can a group of these summon more powerful ones? I don’t know, it’s never happened."

* * *
The Council brainstorms questions to be asked of the captured bone abomination, after being told that it can be compelled to answer five questions. When satisfied with their list of questions, the pit fiend proceeds with the interrogation.

"Who is it working for?"
"I work for the Consortium, we must bring this imprisonment to an end."

"What’s the big plan in Magdag?"
"The final move in the war will not be in Magdag, it will be deep in the South against the accursed women. Calculations suggest that there is not enough strength—too much had to be expended to restrain Canberry to keep it from the field for long enough. Calculations say that we need to add additional troops; only way to sufficient additional troops is undead, only way to add undead is the wing and us."

"What’s the Consortium?"
"The Three. All has been consumed except each other and the servants of the three. All others were bound in place and have been consumed. But the Three, though they tried to consume each other for ages, yet they exist. They must return to this universe that it might be consumed, that a thousand other universes must be consumed. The barrier must be destroyed."

"When are things going down?"
"As soon as the main army is in place, a transference will occur, and the undead will be transported through the agency of the wing. 15,000 improve our chance of victory, and 20,000 nearly guarantee it. It is days now."

"How is the Wing protected?"
"Sits in the great treasure chamber of the Necropolis of Magdag, guarded and surrounded by the servants of the Cov, both mortal and immortal that have been granted for his service of the cult. He is in so deep that he offered them his wife."

The pit fiend destroys the creature, and is released from its service in exchange for the interrogation.

Kit passes on the information about the Inquisitor in Magdag to her counterpart with Baroness Cecillia.
[End Session 56]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 57 (February 19, 2013)

Skard 19 (continued)
A psion patches Alistair through, with some difficulty, to a council chamber in black and blood red with gold sigils. There are three figures in the chamber—the Archduchess, who the Council has met before, on a kneeler; a man dressed entirely in black, seated on a small throne; and another man in a blackened steel mask.

Alistair discusses the matters.

"You are correct; it is unacceptable. If they can break the Seachen, in addition to controlling the treasures there, and likely elevating their temporary ally the Abomination of Shurr, they would be able to control the Spice Lands." The Archduchess continues, "We have identified all of the breakthrough points—one south of your continent, a smaller one in the mountains, one in Khamista, and one beneath the sea to the south of the Confederacy of the Isles. We would be able to share this with you." After a moment's thought, the Archduchess says, "I must handle this personally. I will take my guard. I will take our friend among the dark elves. I will take a brace of pit fiends. I will also gather such werewolves as there are."

The Council offers Lord Davion, if that is acceptable to their elven friend.

The Council send word to Lord Davion, who departs to the given coordinates for a safehouse in the capital of Hanal, from which they intend to strike. He disappears.

* * *
Early the next morning, Kit comes in with a report. There’s a very elven messenger, who can’t enter the palace because the wards would destroy him, but wanted to mention Yel and Oknay.

Dame Brionna finds a briefing message: the God-Emperor of Masque used his troops to wipe out groups of trolls. Three areas resisted: Yar, Yel, and Oknay. Yar is inhabited by one of the ancients, but Yel and Oknay appear to be twisted, in ways similar to things in the lands of Borsh’tro.

There are layers and layers of wards; each of the elven groups that has come through has strengthened them (both Eldar and Noldar), and Alistair's grandmother (one of the greatest human mages in generations) strengthened them. At their base, the wards were probably dwarven—most of the construction of the palace was dwarven.

Alistair reaches down into the land, sensing with his connection. He senses the city, and finds a tremendous locus of health emanating out from the garden where the Princess stayed, which has radiated out over most of the city. Over in the direction of the inns of the inner city, there is a knot of Other. It doesn’t fit. It doesn’t feel like a sickness, like the servants of the pariah gods, but it feels different. It feels furtive, but it still has emanated out to a block or so of the city.

Dame Brionna and Kit head out to the inn, after insisting that Alistair can’t come with them. It’s late, but the common room shouldn’t be empty, even at this time of night, and the next day’s bread should be baking. But there is silence—not even the bartender is present. Also, Dame Brionna has started glowing. There is alteration magic washing over Dame Brionna—her armor is reacting to this, with the wards on it waking up and reacting and responding to the alteration magic.

“Prithee enter, dames. I would offer you refreshments, but I left an osmium tual downstairs with the innkeeper. I fear that none of his goods should be served anymore. I wish to meet with you speedily, because I know that I cannot long conceal my presence from the Princess." He is clearly an elf, looking mostly like a gray elf, but the glowing orange eyes and the hair that is a curtain of living flame is outside the normal gray elf repertoire (although it could be a fashion statement). "Once she is aware of me, I must flee quickly, or I will be eradicated. The West is no longer mine. My master has stayed in Yar. He has kept it clean."

“Clean of the miasma that claimed Yel and Orknay?”

“Yes. But someone needed to find out. There are creatures that have arisen, the worst in many years, that have come in the past year. The forces of Masque can barely contain them. I cannot bring the taint back with me to my master’s hall. You must get a message back to my master, free of the taint that is within me."

Dame Brionna uses her paladin sense: he is not evil, but there is something evil within him.

[cont'd]

[I think we received a players' handout in this session, but as far as I can tell it is lost to time.]

 

[CPaladin]

[session 57 cont'd]
Dame Brionna says: "I am worried that the taint might corrupt the words you say."

"Not for the next half hour. In half an hour, do not trust anything I say. Within an hour, you must strike off my head. We have unfortunately found the sixth spot. There are always six breakthrough points. The sixth breakthrough is beneath Yel and Oknay, in the volcanic pit. Coming at it from without, my master can contain it; coming at it from without, my master can bind it.

"It must be removed from this world; this world must belong to its people, and to the gods that they created and that created them."

"Would he help eliminate them, working with others of his kind? "
"I think so. He hates the taint. All of the 49 of us that will remain in his service know. The children know. (“The Children?”) Each of the First that remain have found a focus. They were a race of the simplest humans. It would have corrupted them, and he would not have it. So he remained."

"I was Allorin of the Grey Wall, but I am become, and am becoming… I will not speak the name that I am becoming.

"Somewhere, they have found a great artifact. They could not have done it without the power of a great artifact. In Yel and Oknay they have the Globe. The God-Emperor of Masque was neither a god nor much of an emperor. But the Throne Globe’s powers were preservation, protection, and Order, in the sense of Law. It was an object intended to keep the God-Emperor alive forever. All of Masque searched for it, for something that had stolen it. But I think it remained in Masque. I could not get close enough, but I saw something feeding the vortex, providing it power. The God-Emperor knew that they were here, he hated them—they threatened his power. So he instituted ritual bloodletting.

"Before the coming of the Grand Duchess, the Temple of Paranswarm was more dangerous than it is now. Her Inquisition seeks out and destroys the threat. Before, the temple tended to lash out. It would have been viewed as more superstition. So instead, he made them a quasi-religious ceremony. The Temple—both of the great human temples—have always been pliable when people find something that keeps them faithful.

"The Cult of the Blood is a cult of all the high ranking nobles, requiring bloodletting for the monarch. The Ritual of the Blood is a public ritual, involving the clergy and the common people. The use of the three have kept the ranking nobility and most of the common people safe, once you get away from Yel and Oknay. Flana has continued those rituals; she knows what their real purpose is. I cannot guarantee that the Throne Globe is where I think it is. If the God-Emperor still lives, he is corrupted and changed.

"The Mantis and the Serpant have remained immune to any blandishments. Some of the mentally weakest orders may be infiltrated. Some of the mercenaries, of course. The Vultures of course. The Wasps are clean. Most of the orders are clean. The Vultures are somewhat… they are huge, and can be infiltrated. They number more than a million.

"The Serpents are trustworthy. I am not aware of any corruption among the Vipers, but there may be. The Serpents are not."

Kit: "What are the chances of this spreading out of Yel and Oknay?"

"We don’t know if they have a plan, or if they are simply keeping Masque busy and preoccupied from other matters."

"How to contact your master?"
"You must use a human psion—he will never answer an elf. Use a narrow band personal mode, unless you are close, in which case declamatory mode would work. He is in the midst of Yar. They never enter Yar—he would not permit it. They do not even know what he is. Narrow beam, from a human psion. He will hear that."

"Is there a way to close the vortex?"
"It can be contained. It would take considerable power, more than the master has to close it. The feeder—we think the globe, although it could be any artifact of at least that power—must be removed."

Dame Brionna decapitates him, and part of the corpse looks like an elf and part of the corpse doesn’t even look humanoid. They then clean the room.

[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 57 cont'd]
The Council realizes that there’s a missing breakthrough point.

Dame Brionna says that there’s a bigger problem in Masque. She points out the various orders that might be corrupted and suggests that we need to talk to the Order of the Serpent about how to destroy the Throne Globe.

Kit tries to contact the master of Yar, using the fan to boost her sending if she can. “I have urgent news of your servant Allorin. How may I address you?"

"It has been so long since one who was not mine has addressed me. I was Bertram the Builder; it was I who directed the building of the Four Walls. I am called Bertram. I do not need honorifics after so many millennia."

Kit asks to bring Alistair and Dame Brionna into the conversation. Bertram bolsters her.

"You have hope of many things, and prolipses is in your favor. By my estimate, you can build an infrastructure to the South as almost a client kingdom. It is how many empires are built."

He would come to the Crystal City to use the Heart.

"If the Heart were used, her creatures would be barred from entering through the vortex, but others still could. The other two are much weaker—a manageable threat for the long-term. Still, much better to close the vortex altogether.

"Greater servitors cannot come through the vortex. Lesser creatures of the Goddess, however, make the corrupted humans much more dangerous.

"Even I could not resist corruption if I approached the vortex closely. My cousins… with their “gods”… might be able to. We will speak no more of it."

"Is it the case that Balansar was once an Eldron?"
"A pox on both their houses."

(The Council apologizes for asking.)

"Speak to the five most powerful enclaves and the one hidden. Tell them that there may be a source of instability—blame it on anything. They may be a new source of stability.

"I suppose it is possible that the one … you… speak to Baron Kalan of Vitall as well. I think he might be able to create an item that might temporarily lend them some stability. His capabilities are weak compared to what one might find elsewhere, but strong compared to human sorcerers."

"That must mean you are unaware of the Breakpoint in the Underdark under Zest’Qua. Something to do with symmetry. If you could disrupt any one of the portals completely, it would drive all of them into shut-down. It is beneath the local evil of Zest’Qua, the Shadowlands. It is near the border of the Shadowlands, under the major warpstone mine."

"Is that the source of the warpstone?"
"Yes. I do not think the forces of Chaos realize the source of the warpstone that they use, or of the ratmen that flee from this."

Speaks of becoming one with their focus as the ultimate goal.

We discuss the prophecy about Dame Brionna becoming the great lady of a great holdfast.
[End session 57]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 58 (March 19, 2013)

Skard 21

We talk to the Sixth Daughter about acting in the Underdark under where the Abomination of Shur’s army is encamped and perhaps preparing for ritual or domain magic. She says that a great house could not act quickly enough—it would involve too much politics, too much time. There are however 300 renegades (male, major warriors, significant sorcery) in the area; they raid the surface, as well as the great houses. They stay bought.

Leader is Denari, once of the House of Godeep. We send her as an ambassador, with the message that if she is harmed, it will mean war and their destruction. She has gems to offer as payment, and the offer of status—if they serve well, and if they are willing to abide by our laws and swear fealty, we could make them vassals and recognize their land claims.

We then talk to the Seachen ambassador—first, Kit furthers her efforts to find the leak in Kaitlyn’s court (including setting up tea between Many Hands, Dame Constance, and an observing psion); then Kit, Brionna, and the Seachen Ambassador have tea. (Alistair, meanwhile, spends his time chatting up his most recent object of interest (while his wife and girlfriend are in a diplomatic meeting…))

The Seachen Ambassador points out that there are seven stone buildings in the upper city that are thousands of years older than the rest of the city; elven techniques, with the stone almost melted together, but no reports of elves in the area. They are very well preserved, but modest building—none of the palaces or noble manors.

They then get into discussion of the military situation in the south. She is concerned, but confident—after all, they have battle hardened field armies and siege weapons. But the army is large, and of a dismaying persuasion. Dame Brionna informs her that the enemy army is tied to the Order of the Ram.

They discuss the refugees and the rakasta servants. She says that she thinks the Sultan of the Rakshasas may have been correct to refuse all offers of quarter.

They have not yet met one force—the gray elf and his force, withdrawn to the city and erecting a magical barrier with the Glordiadelian bishop. He seemed to think it was unwise to engage with them directly.

"Oh… not to put too delicate a point on this. But have you heard from the Noldar admiral? It was he that committed the schooner. We believe he has two more ships in reserve, including a man-of-war."

(Alistair notes through a mindlink <<if we could silence the energy weapon, then they would be in a position to launch a heavy aerial assault.>>)

She implants a mental signature in Dame Brionna’s mind.

Dame Brionna mentions that we know why the Abomination of Shurr seeks to attack Seachen.

The Ambassador doesn’t know what Seachen defends. The Queen of Singing Leaves told the Seachen that they must hold their lands with strong defenses, control the passions of their males, and settle there in particular.

We urge her to contact the Queen of Singing Leaves.
[Cont'd]