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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8948795" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 152, cont'd]</p><p>They ask the duty Farsensor to reach out to her duty Farsensor, and Alistair is patched through immediately.</p><p></p><p>"Your Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"Your Highness. First, I wish to send our sincere thanks for the assistance of your general. It was invaluable in our effort."</p><p></p><p>"I'm pleased that it was helpful."</p><p></p><p>"I'm certain that he has reported on the outcome of that."</p><p></p><p>"Yes."</p><p></p><p>"The other matter that I wish to mention was that we had discussed reasons to believe that the Great Mine had been reopened. Our voller has completed an overflight. They were assaulted by something that was similar to but different than an energy lance. They were also attacked by a group of six flying creatures of the Eldritch. They survived, and they were able to observe signs that the mine had, in fact, been opened--though they could see those signs only from directly above, but not from an angle.</p><p></p><p>They also observed that one of the seals was visible and broken, but not removed, and that there were a meaningful number of people on the site, but far fewer than we know have traveled there."</p><p></p><p>"Yes."</p><p></p><p>"I wanted to pass that information on to you, and see if if your overflight had revealed anything else that you could share."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I've received back the captain of the schooner I sent along with a few of the crew. The bolts are a form of energy lance that uses entropy and counter-changing mixed together. My schooner did not maintain enough altitude. Once the schooner got close enough, the Farsensor onboard could pierce the veil and was able to determine that the mine was active. They're losing a great many men to keep it open, because the one that haunts it is powerful and different from what they have experience with. Now, they have to deal with the radiation within the mine, which is killing many of them, and they have to deal with a balrog appearing from the darkness, killing their miners, and then fading back into the darkness. They lack any method of dealing with him. I would have difficulty dealing with him. After all, he is of the nature of the Valar. But I could do it. I think they cannot. He's now a mobile threat, so their answer is to throw more and more people at it. They are obtaining the ore that they're looking for, and then there are other things that they're looking for in the mine, we think. Unfortunately, when the schooner did a low pass, it was hit twice, which was more than it could sustain. The captain apported back here. The shadow elves on board the ship--twelve of them, including the Farsensor-- went down with the ship. The only way to safely approach is apparently by foot. I believe that they are now relying entirely on slaves--slaves that are being apparently delivered by former servants of the lord of the Eighth Region who have left his service. He's considered quite decadent by the other lords of the Aragoni, and has little interest in standard slaving techniques. Therefore, many uruks have simply left his active service, and they're finding both villages that were ravaged in the attack on the Spicelands, and refugees rounding the Horn to be pretty easy prey."</p><p></p><p>"We intend to send some ground troops to address at least that part of it. Our condolences on the loss of so many members of your crew, and we hope that your god has taken them to his bosom. We also wanted to inform you that we have determined that it is possible to use clerical magic to heal wounds that are inflicted by the Eldritch that would otherwise not be healable by clerical magic if you have an adequately powerful remove disease effect before you apply the other magic."</p><p></p><p>"I will pass that on to the clergy of Morgrath."</p><p></p><p>"I know that is less relevant for your people, because Redaction is so much more of your ordinary approach to healing than it is for us, but nonetheless."</p><p></p><p>"There will be a dirge of the seven voices for the lost crew in 6 days time. If you wish to send a representative, they would, of course, be welcome. It's not a terribly long dirge, only about six hours."</p><p></p><p>"We will do so."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you. I am not sure how to suggest proceeding. I think your plan with ground troops makes the most sense. Possibly our cousins' longest range weapons could outreach it, but based on the amount of damage each blast did, that is a siege-level projector, similar to our siege-level death lances and their siege-level energy lances. And of course, among your folk, the siege-level flame cannons of Hanal and Masque."</p><p></p><p>"And I assume that those are then larger and heavier than the weapons that a voller can carry."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, effectively immobile. They can be transported, but moving one is a major undertaking and requires disassembly. They're usually permanently mounted on towers, and their construction is heavier than ours."</p><p></p><p>"Which also means that they've devoted enormous resources to this--more than we've seen anywhere, except at the Eldritch islands themselves, and perhaps more even than there, I suppose."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, besides Hanal City, and Hanal City is a combination of their power and the power of the former. Lord Quinliart and not their power alone. This appears to be."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. And for that matter, the Usurper's as well."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. We must hope the creature continues to harass them and that they do not find the method of killing it. It will slow what they gather and prevent doing purification there."</p><p></p><p>"If they can't do the purification there, do they need to move large volumes of ore?"</p><p></p><p>"Significant cargos, at least. It depends on how much they want."</p><p></p><p>"If they need to be sending the equivalent of large caravans, then there's a substantial chance we can intercept this."</p><p></p><p>"It's a worthy effort. I'm not exactly sure what they intend to do with the material, and thus how much they need."</p><p></p><p>"Do we know what the material is? I take it that it's more than just fresia."</p><p></p><p>"I believe they are purifying dark heartstone, but that is based on my knowledge of the Great Mine, not on any particular knowledge of their intent. Normally there are small bits of it scattered through fresia deposits. Its power and ability to alter other substances is much greater and much more dangerous than fresia itself. Indeed, it is possible that fresia is a result from the decay of dark heartstone, though I am not certain as it is not my field. It alters creatures very easily. Goldurim would know more, but we ought not to contact him about it. But to get usable dark heartstone for anything other than simply changing things around it would require a ratio of at least 100 to one. But I cannot even imagine the concentration that would be required to get into a state that they are seeking to make. If they are, yes, they will have large caravans. It would allow them to do certain things they might otherwise not be able to. A pound of it could be snuck into, for example, Zorplona-Moriquendarim, and in a few days would wipe out the population of the Enclave and make it permanently uninhabitable. I'm not saying it is likely that that would be their plan, but simply as an example. My understanding is that it would eventually lose its capabilities, but that it would take a long time, even by the standards of my people."</p><p></p><p>"And that also means that, say, a pound of it could be sufficient to destroy Canberry City."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, yes."</p><p></p><p>"So if we recover it," asks Kit, "how can we dispose of it safely?"</p><p></p><p>"Lead. That can contain it--it's the primary reason the dwarves mine it. It would be better to use lean, but lead is much more readily available."</p><p></p><p>"We should just invest in lead," mutters Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Always good," agrees Kit.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, the dwarves get pretty good money for it compared to what they ought to. It's otherwise a not very useful, soft metal. But you want to buy enough to contain however much of the ore you recover."</p><p></p><p>"So then, what we want to do is when we send ground troops in,we want to also send them with wagon-sized lead caskets, or perhaps multiple coffin-sized ones."</p><p></p><p>"If they're carrying fresia ore, unconcentrated, it's unlikely to harm much. If they're carrying anything that they've begun to concentrate, then yes, you want to put all of it in lead, and then actually destroy it. I recommend volcanoes. They won't try to recover it, and nobody will get at it. The only people I know of who have concentrated dark heartstone before were the drow. They use fresia to power their weapons, and they wondered what would happen if they super concentrated only the most potent bits, whether they could make even more capable weapons. They destroyed a couple of their own cities millenia ago--they never made it to the point of weaponizing it, but simply concentrating it was enough to destroy the cities they did it in."</p><p></p><p>"What happened to the dark heartstone they concentrated?"</p><p></p><p>"I presume it's still in the ruins of those cities. They are still abandoned and unusable, and while we could have sent in people in lead protective clothes, we did not see any reason to take the risk to recover something we could not use anyway."</p><p></p><p>"Where are those cities? If the enemy knows about it, they will try to recover the dark heartstone, and they will consider the risk immaterial."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, that makes sense. That's concerning. The city ruins are under Southern Drucien."</p><p></p><p>"Where exactly under Southern Drucien?" asks Kit. "That's a big area."</p><p></p><p>"Hmm. Do you need to have a map?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, please, Your Highness. That would be most useful."</p><p></p><p>"I will supply you with one, and also identify the two lost drowan cities for your people."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you. We greatly appreciate that."</p><p></p><p>They thank her again, and then make sure to find someone who's really into Noldor culture and would find listening to a requiem dirge for six hours to be an enjoyable, valuable cultural experience. (Kit suggests they just send someone they hate.)</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p>The chief midwife of Gunnora joins them shortly. "Your Majesty. Your people are doing very well. All the pregnancies now are normal."</p><p></p><p>"Were they not?" asks Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Ah! We found a couple early on with a touch of the, well, Ram, but those have been taken care of, and all the pregnancies now are normal. Although, Miss Stabens, I'm going to attend to myself when she delivers."</p><p></p><p>"Why?"</p><p></p><p>"Quadruplets. Those are very rare among the big folk. They're very rare, mind, among my people, but even more among your folk."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, they are," agrees Kit. "Please give her all the good care that you can."</p><p></p><p>"I shall. I will trust it to no one younger than myself."</p><p></p><p>"Just to clarify, you said 'Miss' Stabens," notes Dame Brionna with more than a touch of disapproval. "Is there, then, no father to help with the quadruplets?"</p><p></p><p>"There is a father."</p><p></p><p>"I mean, obviously, but..."</p><p></p><p>"And I mean, on the helping part... He cries constantly. You know how this sort of thing happens. No thought at all. And while the father is around, he's completely worthless. And she'll have a hard time making a good life for herself, whatever he does. She's been active in her parish, though."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, is she Glordiadelian?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, yes, yes. In the lower quarter. Would you like her mother's address?"</p><p></p><p>"If you could give it to me, yes."</p><p></p><p>"I'm not really sure her mother does know how it happened."</p><p></p><p>"How old is she?"</p><p></p><p>"Her mother? Oh, you mean Miss Staben?"</p><p></p><p>"The the mother to be, yes!"</p><p></p><p>"No more'n 14."</p><p></p><p>"And human?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh yes, all human, I assure you."</p><p></p><p>"You should absolutely be there to care for her."</p><p></p><p>"And I shall be."</p><p></p><p>"Happily, you'll have any resources you might need for that. But beyond that, I'd like to send a message to our local parish priests there about getting that family some help."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, please do. I don't really have much contact with that priest. I've been considering asking you to help out, as a paladin."</p><p></p><p>Kit interjects, "Yes, and also having people of that district well educated on how to not have babies."</p><p></p><p>"I think the boy is even younger."</p><p></p><p>"Sheepskins, until and unless they really and truly are ready." If any of them are aware of the irony given that Alistair and Kit are only about 5 years older, they don't note it.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, I'm not thinking she's ready, mind you, but I do think she'll make a good mother."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. Well, she would have been better able to do it 10 years from now."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I do not doubt it."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, and preferably not because of carelessness or foolishness," adds Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Well, apparently, she thought... Well, I'm embarrassed to say it. I should be giving these education classes. But I do not think your temple would approve..."</p><p></p><p>"I think we could work out some arrangements," Dame Brionna replies.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, she did not think this could happen this quickly. That's the actual way to put this."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, perhaps you and I should have a separate meeting on this, and I can get the Archbishop's approval," continues Dame Brionna. "I can't imagine why you wouldn't think this was something on which you could be a moral leader and set a good example. And perhaps sponsoring education classes with midwives for everyone in the poor quarter. All the quarters, really, but frankly, those in the upper quarter are likely to get an education already."</p><p></p><p>"What about Kaitlyn?" suggests Kit.</p><p></p><p>"That seems like an excellent suggestion. We can introduce this as something that is the custom in her other kingdoms that the Empress is now bringing to Canberry. As part of the standard education classes for girls and boys."</p><p></p><p>"And boys definitely, definitely. Well, you do know that these multiple groups are more common with very young mothers, even among my people."</p><p></p><p>"And just to be clear, there's no reason to suspect that this is anything other than ordinary."</p><p></p><p>"No, I met her lad, and he'd be younger than she is. The both of 'em should probably be spanked."</p><p></p><p>"Just ordinary teenagers, having ordinary bad judgment," observes Kit.</p><p></p><p>After having been mostly silent during the discussion of sex education policy, Alistair finally says, "So, we have a few other matters we wanted to discuss with you.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, yes, by all means."</p><p></p><p>"The first, and I think most pressing, is that there is a large mining operation going on at a place referred to as the Great Mine. It was sealed off by some of the great elves, because there's terrible stuff in there. Apparently, a balrog in there is among the least bad things, and it's actually being somewhat helpful by preventing people from taking the other things out."</p><p></p><p>"My."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, precisely. The Eldritch have built a major operation there. It appears to be entirely an Eldritch-run thing. It doesn't appear to be run with any of their local allies, but they have brought in humans. But there doesn't appear to be any of the demon cults or Hanalians, or any of that sort of thing there that we know of. We believe that they are mining fresia and dark heartstone, but we don't know that for certain. And we wanted to know what, if anything, you knew about any of this."</p><p></p><p>"Well. The drow will collect fresia and use it for its energy. I know that's pretty easy. But primarily to empower their weapons. I also know there's a large outcropping in Masque in the Brown Lands."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, apparently the Brown Lands were basically created by an explosion of fresia."</p><p></p><p>"It slowly alters the people and creatures near there, and monsters now seek to escape. Dark heartstone... I'm aware of heartstone. It is occasionally used by the elves. Very occasionally. Dark heartstone... I did not think it had any use."</p><p></p><p>"We think that it's primary use is that, if concentrated, it becomes deadly. A pound of it could wipe out a city."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, we think he's trying to buy time that way?"</p><p></p><p>"You think it's possible?"</p><p></p><p>"I think they're trying multiple options, really. This is their second shift, as they come close to extinction, or to losing the service of the outer ones. In their heart, no matter how well they think they're going to pull the great lord and lady in for their power, they know they're going to be consumed. They are trading temporary power and status for their own destruction. Only the most powerful of their allies actually hope to survive--certainly the Queen of Chaos is playing a game where..." The midwife realizes how her voice has been changing and smiles before continuing with a rather different, educated accent. "You know, when I talk about the very theological subjects, I have to drop my folksy accent. I apologize, Your Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"That accent is actually an affectation?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, completely. It's expected of us. It's not an affectation for all of them, but I have responsibilities for all of Southern Drucien, and I both have to have a deeper education, on the one hand, and have to sound like a midwife of Gunnora is supposed to, on the other. It works particularly with the common folk, which is what we really deal with most of the time, but it can also have advantages with some of the nobility, who think 'how quaint.'"</p><p></p><p>"What does Mommy Cupcakes actually sound like?" wonders Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Mommy Cupcakes sounds like Mommy Cupcakes. She's a very skilled and talented nurse-maid and governess, but actually has the background she seems to. The high midwife, however, for the southern half of the continent needs to be highly educated. So what I was saying, before that diversion, is that the Queen of Chaos has a plan. She is is playing a double game--she hopes to get free from the prison, and then be able to eject them. And they know that, but they need her and her allies and many servants, despite being imprisoned in the Abyss. Now the catlord, the catlord was simply trying to gain power himself, and cares for neither them nor the Queen of Chaos."</p><p></p><p>"They're all backstabbing each other. We all got that."</p><p></p><p>"And I cannot determine the position of the Queen Empress, who I still struggle to remember is not really the Queen Empress, despite my best efforts."</p><p></p><p>"The only thing I will say clearly there is that she has been a Noldor before she betrayed them, and then she was an archdevil before she betrayed them, and now she's a demon princess who's in the process of betraying them, so I think I see a pattern."</p><p></p><p>"And then she's aiming for godhood."</p><p></p><p>"Almost surely."</p><p></p><p>"It is the only remaining step. So she must be preparing to betray all of them, including the One Other."</p><p></p><p>"We think so, but perhaps not Arthranax. Perhaps she is planning on betraying the rest of them, including the other two with him. It's not entirely clear."</p><p></p><p>"Well, it is a right mess," she drops back into her normal patter, "I be telling you, Your Majesty, it is a right mess, and none of them are going to easily stick."</p><p></p><p>"Let's just hope they don't drag us all down with them."</p><p></p><p>"That's the danger now. It's what happened back home."</p><p></p><p>"We also found out that certain wounds that are made by the Eldritch can be cured by clerical magic only if a powerful cure disease effect is placed first. Not just any cure disease, but a powerful one."</p><p></p><p>"So, they be like the Horned Rat's diseases, then."</p><p></p><p>"That was what we thought as well, that perhaps they learned that trick from the servants of the Rat, or the other way around, while they were in the old world."</p><p></p><p>"Well, they went through our land like a dose of salts, as you know, and they drove the Horned Rat and his minions before them. So they, sure enough, had time to learn it. I will spread the word. Not that many of us cast powerful care diseases, but for those who do."</p><p></p><p>"We also wondered if there might be any other effects of that disease, and since it seems to be long lasting, we're concerned that, like with the Rat's diseases, it may not be as fully blocked by the Compact as most disease."</p><p></p><p>"That could be. I will consult with your Archbishop, and together maybe we can arrange a committee to examine those possibilities."</p><p></p><p>"There is one other thing we wanted to know if you could give us perspective on."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you. As always, it was a pleasure to see you, Your Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"If you would not mind coming with us into the palace chapel."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, of course."</p><p></p><p>"We recovered an object, and we must ask that you keep this most confidential, that seals off an extra planar niche, and while the object is holy to Glordiadel, and we think to a saint of Glordiadel, the niche that it seals off is not, and we believe that it is filled with the Eldritch. We were hoping you might be able to provide some additional insight on it."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, let us look at it." She gives Father Waters a friendly wave. "Hmm. It emanates a fair amount of power."</p><p></p><p>"It is, we believe, a very powerful psionic object that has then had a blessing placed upon it."</p><p></p><p>"The blessing is great. The seal itself is far beyond the ability of any of my people to open, and has no leakage that I can tell, at least. Somebody's going to come after this if it becomes public knowledge. Crystal like this is elven work... no, I'm wrong. So someone among the Noldor, you think, were dealing with the Eldred to a point where they built this for them?"</p><p></p><p>"I think that in the first war, one of the Noldor lords sealed an Eldritch army away, but then did not destroy them or leave it completely sealed, but rather kept it so that they could access it if for some reason they decided they wanted to. But we don't know for certain, and we can't exactly ask."</p><p></p><p>"It is not able to do anything currently. I don't think it will leak, but I would bury it deeper than this. I fear someone will talk. Wait... the temple in the lower quarter with the sudden death of the priest and the vandalism, and the guard all about it... was this there?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes."</p><p></p><p>"So something already happened."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, we recovered it. The Twilight Elf that serves the Eldritch sought to steal it. We recovered it from him, although he escaped. The Eldritch know that it's here, at least broadly speaking. The Noldor who created it does not."</p><p></p><p>"It has a property of anchoring, that much I can see. It will not be easy to move it by any non standard method. If they know where it is now, they will try to come for it, although your palace has put paid to a number of their schemes in the past. They may try again with heavier resources. I would see to my defenses and increase the watch on the gates."</p><p></p><p>"We will think about your suggestion about concealing it further. It's difficult, because it is a holy object as well."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. And to transfer it to your Holy See would almost certainly have to be done by boat. I'm not sure that a voller could remain in the air with that aboard."</p><p></p><p>"Its anchoring is that powerful? We knew that it would block teleportation or the like, but to even block a voller."</p><p></p><p>"It's the strongest anchoring I've ever seen. How it was stolen and gotten this far from its creator escapes me. The thief must have been very good."</p><p></p><p>"We think that he was both very good, and also very highly blessed by Glordiadel."</p><p></p><p>"That is a strong indicator. I doubt they would look this far, until apparently the Eldritch did. That's to your advantage--the Eldritch will never share its location with its creator. But that is a reason to not move it to your Holy See--if its creator heard of it there, I do not think any human fortification, however blessed, could withstand an assault by a Noldor lord."</p><p></p><p>"Yes. There's another reason why I think we cannot move it to the See of Light. Suffice to say that I think that it would be inappropriate to disrespect a saint's judgment that it does not belong there."</p><p></p><p>"Reasonable."</p><p></p><p>"I think we understand why the saint would have thought that. Of course, the saint also didn't think it belonged to the palace, so..."</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna says, "Yes, but also it got stolen from where he put it."</p><p></p><p>"Well, it seems to me that the Protector of the Light was not in the palace in the saint's time," comments the midwife.</p><p></p><p>"That's fair. My family has always been Glordiadelian, but they have not always been quite as positioned in the Church. I think that most of my ancestors have been about as personally faithful as I am, and most of them have also understood the rule requiring that the Archduke or Archduchess must be extremely devout regardless of how devout the person holding that office might be."</p><p></p><p>She almost remarks on that, but stops herself. "I would offer to leave a few fighters here to help guard it, but your palace is guarded as well as any palace can be."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I think that your people's efforts are better spent elsewhere."</p><p></p><p>She bows slightly to the relic. "I do sense the presence of your god about it, and the presence of someone else. That may be your saint. What is his name?"</p><p></p><p>"Reuben of the Third Eye."</p><p></p><p>"Ah. The third eye is for sight, but not the face's sight. The sight that humans sometimes receive, that we very rarely see, that they need for psionics."</p><p></p><p>"That was what we had thought."</p><p></p><p>"I'm certain that that is what it is. That may be how he was able to slip in and out of a Noldor's holding."</p><p></p><p>"That's what we thought, too."</p><p></p><p>"They are too arrogant to accept the idea that the humans could outsmart them. That was true for many races in our own world, too. But their arrogance makes them blind, in a way that the humble can see accurately. Thank you for your confidence, Your Majesty, my ladies."</p><p></p><p>"And, as we said, it is important that this stay secret. There are many people who must not know what is here."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, no one will hear about this. I will be far too busy worrying about Miss Staben. And the children. And the young scallywag, their father."</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p>They spend a while discussing how to get the troops to patrol the area near the Great Mine. The most obviously available army is the field army in and around Lyneham, though it is doing important infrastructure work and helping with the resettlement of the refugees. They discuss sending it west, to the Cities of Trade, and then moving it into position--using a story about increased tariffs on military movements from Gates to justify it. But that would take a long time--months at least--to get into position. They could airlift troops by voller, but that's both limited by their small number of vollers and not at all subtle for an operation that they want to take the enemy by surprise. Finally, they decide to send two legions from the field armies in the west of the Archduchy. That's only about 200 miles, so perhaps 10-20 days to get them into position, which is about as fast as they could get troops there piecemeal by voller. And because they're already in that region and patrolling, it can be done reasonably subtly, beginning with extending patrols further in that direction. They decide to not send additional troops moving beyond that until they start getting reports back, but they make sure they have good leaders and plenty of lead with them--perhaps even a thin layer of lead placed over their armor to protect them, although the dust from that would not be ideal.</p><p></p><p>[End Session 152]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8948795, member: 7030144"] [Session 152, cont'd] They ask the duty Farsensor to reach out to her duty Farsensor, and Alistair is patched through immediately. "Your Majesty." "Your Highness. First, I wish to send our sincere thanks for the assistance of your general. It was invaluable in our effort." "I'm pleased that it was helpful." "I'm certain that he has reported on the outcome of that." "Yes." "The other matter that I wish to mention was that we had discussed reasons to believe that the Great Mine had been reopened. Our voller has completed an overflight. They were assaulted by something that was similar to but different than an energy lance. They were also attacked by a group of six flying creatures of the Eldritch. They survived, and they were able to observe signs that the mine had, in fact, been opened--though they could see those signs only from directly above, but not from an angle. They also observed that one of the seals was visible and broken, but not removed, and that there were a meaningful number of people on the site, but far fewer than we know have traveled there." "Yes." "I wanted to pass that information on to you, and see if if your overflight had revealed anything else that you could share." "Yes, I've received back the captain of the schooner I sent along with a few of the crew. The bolts are a form of energy lance that uses entropy and counter-changing mixed together. My schooner did not maintain enough altitude. Once the schooner got close enough, the Farsensor onboard could pierce the veil and was able to determine that the mine was active. They're losing a great many men to keep it open, because the one that haunts it is powerful and different from what they have experience with. Now, they have to deal with the radiation within the mine, which is killing many of them, and they have to deal with a balrog appearing from the darkness, killing their miners, and then fading back into the darkness. They lack any method of dealing with him. I would have difficulty dealing with him. After all, he is of the nature of the Valar. But I could do it. I think they cannot. He's now a mobile threat, so their answer is to throw more and more people at it. They are obtaining the ore that they're looking for, and then there are other things that they're looking for in the mine, we think. Unfortunately, when the schooner did a low pass, it was hit twice, which was more than it could sustain. The captain apported back here. The shadow elves on board the ship--twelve of them, including the Farsensor-- went down with the ship. The only way to safely approach is apparently by foot. I believe that they are now relying entirely on slaves--slaves that are being apparently delivered by former servants of the lord of the Eighth Region who have left his service. He's considered quite decadent by the other lords of the Aragoni, and has little interest in standard slaving techniques. Therefore, many uruks have simply left his active service, and they're finding both villages that were ravaged in the attack on the Spicelands, and refugees rounding the Horn to be pretty easy prey." "We intend to send some ground troops to address at least that part of it. Our condolences on the loss of so many members of your crew, and we hope that your god has taken them to his bosom. We also wanted to inform you that we have determined that it is possible to use clerical magic to heal wounds that are inflicted by the Eldritch that would otherwise not be healable by clerical magic if you have an adequately powerful remove disease effect before you apply the other magic." "I will pass that on to the clergy of Morgrath." "I know that is less relevant for your people, because Redaction is so much more of your ordinary approach to healing than it is for us, but nonetheless." "There will be a dirge of the seven voices for the lost crew in 6 days time. If you wish to send a representative, they would, of course, be welcome. It's not a terribly long dirge, only about six hours." "We will do so." "Thank you. I am not sure how to suggest proceeding. I think your plan with ground troops makes the most sense. Possibly our cousins' longest range weapons could outreach it, but based on the amount of damage each blast did, that is a siege-level projector, similar to our siege-level death lances and their siege-level energy lances. And of course, among your folk, the siege-level flame cannons of Hanal and Masque." "And I assume that those are then larger and heavier than the weapons that a voller can carry." "Yes, effectively immobile. They can be transported, but moving one is a major undertaking and requires disassembly. They're usually permanently mounted on towers, and their construction is heavier than ours." "Which also means that they've devoted enormous resources to this--more than we've seen anywhere, except at the Eldritch islands themselves, and perhaps more even than there, I suppose." "Yes, besides Hanal City, and Hanal City is a combination of their power and the power of the former. Lord Quinliart and not their power alone. This appears to be." "Yes. And for that matter, the Usurper's as well." "Yes. We must hope the creature continues to harass them and that they do not find the method of killing it. It will slow what they gather and prevent doing purification there." "If they can't do the purification there, do they need to move large volumes of ore?" "Significant cargos, at least. It depends on how much they want." "If they need to be sending the equivalent of large caravans, then there's a substantial chance we can intercept this." "It's a worthy effort. I'm not exactly sure what they intend to do with the material, and thus how much they need." "Do we know what the material is? I take it that it's more than just fresia." "I believe they are purifying dark heartstone, but that is based on my knowledge of the Great Mine, not on any particular knowledge of their intent. Normally there are small bits of it scattered through fresia deposits. Its power and ability to alter other substances is much greater and much more dangerous than fresia itself. Indeed, it is possible that fresia is a result from the decay of dark heartstone, though I am not certain as it is not my field. It alters creatures very easily. Goldurim would know more, but we ought not to contact him about it. But to get usable dark heartstone for anything other than simply changing things around it would require a ratio of at least 100 to one. But I cannot even imagine the concentration that would be required to get into a state that they are seeking to make. If they are, yes, they will have large caravans. It would allow them to do certain things they might otherwise not be able to. A pound of it could be snuck into, for example, Zorplona-Moriquendarim, and in a few days would wipe out the population of the Enclave and make it permanently uninhabitable. I'm not saying it is likely that that would be their plan, but simply as an example. My understanding is that it would eventually lose its capabilities, but that it would take a long time, even by the standards of my people." "And that also means that, say, a pound of it could be sufficient to destroy Canberry City." "Oh, yes." "So if we recover it," asks Kit, "how can we dispose of it safely?" "Lead. That can contain it--it's the primary reason the dwarves mine it. It would be better to use lean, but lead is much more readily available." "We should just invest in lead," mutters Dame Brionna. "Always good," agrees Kit. "Yes, the dwarves get pretty good money for it compared to what they ought to. It's otherwise a not very useful, soft metal. But you want to buy enough to contain however much of the ore you recover." "So then, what we want to do is when we send ground troops in,we want to also send them with wagon-sized lead caskets, or perhaps multiple coffin-sized ones." "If they're carrying fresia ore, unconcentrated, it's unlikely to harm much. If they're carrying anything that they've begun to concentrate, then yes, you want to put all of it in lead, and then actually destroy it. I recommend volcanoes. They won't try to recover it, and nobody will get at it. The only people I know of who have concentrated dark heartstone before were the drow. They use fresia to power their weapons, and they wondered what would happen if they super concentrated only the most potent bits, whether they could make even more capable weapons. They destroyed a couple of their own cities millenia ago--they never made it to the point of weaponizing it, but simply concentrating it was enough to destroy the cities they did it in." "What happened to the dark heartstone they concentrated?" "I presume it's still in the ruins of those cities. They are still abandoned and unusable, and while we could have sent in people in lead protective clothes, we did not see any reason to take the risk to recover something we could not use anyway." "Where are those cities? If the enemy knows about it, they will try to recover the dark heartstone, and they will consider the risk immaterial." "Oh, that makes sense. That's concerning. The city ruins are under Southern Drucien." "Where exactly under Southern Drucien?" asks Kit. "That's a big area." "Hmm. Do you need to have a map?" "Yes, please, Your Highness. That would be most useful." "I will supply you with one, and also identify the two lost drowan cities for your people." "Thank you. We greatly appreciate that." They thank her again, and then make sure to find someone who's really into Noldor culture and would find listening to a requiem dirge for six hours to be an enjoyable, valuable cultural experience. (Kit suggests they just send someone they hate.) * * * The chief midwife of Gunnora joins them shortly. "Your Majesty. Your people are doing very well. All the pregnancies now are normal." "Were they not?" asks Dame Brionna. "Ah! We found a couple early on with a touch of the, well, Ram, but those have been taken care of, and all the pregnancies now are normal. Although, Miss Stabens, I'm going to attend to myself when she delivers." "Why?" "Quadruplets. Those are very rare among the big folk. They're very rare, mind, among my people, but even more among your folk." "Yes, they are," agrees Kit. "Please give her all the good care that you can." "I shall. I will trust it to no one younger than myself." "Just to clarify, you said 'Miss' Stabens," notes Dame Brionna with more than a touch of disapproval. "Is there, then, no father to help with the quadruplets?" "There is a father." "I mean, obviously, but..." "And I mean, on the helping part... He cries constantly. You know how this sort of thing happens. No thought at all. And while the father is around, he's completely worthless. And she'll have a hard time making a good life for herself, whatever he does. She's been active in her parish, though." "Oh, is she Glordiadelian?" "Oh, yes, yes. In the lower quarter. Would you like her mother's address?" "If you could give it to me, yes." "I'm not really sure her mother does know how it happened." "How old is she?" "Her mother? Oh, you mean Miss Staben?" "The the mother to be, yes!" "No more'n 14." "And human?" "Oh yes, all human, I assure you." "You should absolutely be there to care for her." "And I shall be." "Happily, you'll have any resources you might need for that. But beyond that, I'd like to send a message to our local parish priests there about getting that family some help." "Oh, please do. I don't really have much contact with that priest. I've been considering asking you to help out, as a paladin." Kit interjects, "Yes, and also having people of that district well educated on how to not have babies." "I think the boy is even younger." "Sheepskins, until and unless they really and truly are ready." If any of them are aware of the irony given that Alistair and Kit are only about 5 years older, they don't note it. "Oh, I'm not thinking she's ready, mind you, but I do think she'll make a good mother." "Yes. Well, she would have been better able to do it 10 years from now." "Yes, I do not doubt it." "Yes, and preferably not because of carelessness or foolishness," adds Dame Brionna. "Well, apparently, she thought... Well, I'm embarrassed to say it. I should be giving these education classes. But I do not think your temple would approve..." "I think we could work out some arrangements," Dame Brionna replies. "Oh, she did not think this could happen this quickly. That's the actual way to put this." "Yes, perhaps you and I should have a separate meeting on this, and I can get the Archbishop's approval," continues Dame Brionna. "I can't imagine why you wouldn't think this was something on which you could be a moral leader and set a good example. And perhaps sponsoring education classes with midwives for everyone in the poor quarter. All the quarters, really, but frankly, those in the upper quarter are likely to get an education already." "What about Kaitlyn?" suggests Kit. "That seems like an excellent suggestion. We can introduce this as something that is the custom in her other kingdoms that the Empress is now bringing to Canberry. As part of the standard education classes for girls and boys." "And boys definitely, definitely. Well, you do know that these multiple groups are more common with very young mothers, even among my people." "And just to be clear, there's no reason to suspect that this is anything other than ordinary." "No, I met her lad, and he'd be younger than she is. The both of 'em should probably be spanked." "Just ordinary teenagers, having ordinary bad judgment," observes Kit. After having been mostly silent during the discussion of sex education policy, Alistair finally says, "So, we have a few other matters we wanted to discuss with you. "Oh, yes, by all means." "The first, and I think most pressing, is that there is a large mining operation going on at a place referred to as the Great Mine. It was sealed off by some of the great elves, because there's terrible stuff in there. Apparently, a balrog in there is among the least bad things, and it's actually being somewhat helpful by preventing people from taking the other things out." "My." "Yes, precisely. The Eldritch have built a major operation there. It appears to be entirely an Eldritch-run thing. It doesn't appear to be run with any of their local allies, but they have brought in humans. But there doesn't appear to be any of the demon cults or Hanalians, or any of that sort of thing there that we know of. We believe that they are mining fresia and dark heartstone, but we don't know that for certain. And we wanted to know what, if anything, you knew about any of this." "Well. The drow will collect fresia and use it for its energy. I know that's pretty easy. But primarily to empower their weapons. I also know there's a large outcropping in Masque in the Brown Lands." "Yes, apparently the Brown Lands were basically created by an explosion of fresia." "It slowly alters the people and creatures near there, and monsters now seek to escape. Dark heartstone... I'm aware of heartstone. It is occasionally used by the elves. Very occasionally. Dark heartstone... I did not think it had any use." "We think that it's primary use is that, if concentrated, it becomes deadly. A pound of it could wipe out a city." "Oh, we think he's trying to buy time that way?" "You think it's possible?" "I think they're trying multiple options, really. This is their second shift, as they come close to extinction, or to losing the service of the outer ones. In their heart, no matter how well they think they're going to pull the great lord and lady in for their power, they know they're going to be consumed. They are trading temporary power and status for their own destruction. Only the most powerful of their allies actually hope to survive--certainly the Queen of Chaos is playing a game where..." The midwife realizes how her voice has been changing and smiles before continuing with a rather different, educated accent. "You know, when I talk about the very theological subjects, I have to drop my folksy accent. I apologize, Your Majesty." "That accent is actually an affectation?" "Oh, completely. It's expected of us. It's not an affectation for all of them, but I have responsibilities for all of Southern Drucien, and I both have to have a deeper education, on the one hand, and have to sound like a midwife of Gunnora is supposed to, on the other. It works particularly with the common folk, which is what we really deal with most of the time, but it can also have advantages with some of the nobility, who think 'how quaint.'" "What does Mommy Cupcakes actually sound like?" wonders Dame Brionna. "Mommy Cupcakes sounds like Mommy Cupcakes. She's a very skilled and talented nurse-maid and governess, but actually has the background she seems to. The high midwife, however, for the southern half of the continent needs to be highly educated. So what I was saying, before that diversion, is that the Queen of Chaos has a plan. She is is playing a double game--she hopes to get free from the prison, and then be able to eject them. And they know that, but they need her and her allies and many servants, despite being imprisoned in the Abyss. Now the catlord, the catlord was simply trying to gain power himself, and cares for neither them nor the Queen of Chaos." "They're all backstabbing each other. We all got that." "And I cannot determine the position of the Queen Empress, who I still struggle to remember is not really the Queen Empress, despite my best efforts." "The only thing I will say clearly there is that she has been a Noldor before she betrayed them, and then she was an archdevil before she betrayed them, and now she's a demon princess who's in the process of betraying them, so I think I see a pattern." "And then she's aiming for godhood." "Almost surely." "It is the only remaining step. So she must be preparing to betray all of them, including the One Other." "We think so, but perhaps not Arthranax. Perhaps she is planning on betraying the rest of them, including the other two with him. It's not entirely clear." "Well, it is a right mess," she drops back into her normal patter, "I be telling you, Your Majesty, it is a right mess, and none of them are going to easily stick." "Let's just hope they don't drag us all down with them." "That's the danger now. It's what happened back home." "We also found out that certain wounds that are made by the Eldritch can be cured by clerical magic only if a powerful cure disease effect is placed first. Not just any cure disease, but a powerful one." "So, they be like the Horned Rat's diseases, then." "That was what we thought as well, that perhaps they learned that trick from the servants of the Rat, or the other way around, while they were in the old world." "Well, they went through our land like a dose of salts, as you know, and they drove the Horned Rat and his minions before them. So they, sure enough, had time to learn it. I will spread the word. Not that many of us cast powerful care diseases, but for those who do." "We also wondered if there might be any other effects of that disease, and since it seems to be long lasting, we're concerned that, like with the Rat's diseases, it may not be as fully blocked by the Compact as most disease." "That could be. I will consult with your Archbishop, and together maybe we can arrange a committee to examine those possibilities." "There is one other thing we wanted to know if you could give us perspective on." "Thank you. As always, it was a pleasure to see you, Your Majesty." "If you would not mind coming with us into the palace chapel." "Oh, of course." "We recovered an object, and we must ask that you keep this most confidential, that seals off an extra planar niche, and while the object is holy to Glordiadel, and we think to a saint of Glordiadel, the niche that it seals off is not, and we believe that it is filled with the Eldritch. We were hoping you might be able to provide some additional insight on it." "Yes, let us look at it." She gives Father Waters a friendly wave. "Hmm. It emanates a fair amount of power." "It is, we believe, a very powerful psionic object that has then had a blessing placed upon it." "The blessing is great. The seal itself is far beyond the ability of any of my people to open, and has no leakage that I can tell, at least. Somebody's going to come after this if it becomes public knowledge. Crystal like this is elven work... no, I'm wrong. So someone among the Noldor, you think, were dealing with the Eldred to a point where they built this for them?" "I think that in the first war, one of the Noldor lords sealed an Eldritch army away, but then did not destroy them or leave it completely sealed, but rather kept it so that they could access it if for some reason they decided they wanted to. But we don't know for certain, and we can't exactly ask." "It is not able to do anything currently. I don't think it will leak, but I would bury it deeper than this. I fear someone will talk. Wait... the temple in the lower quarter with the sudden death of the priest and the vandalism, and the guard all about it... was this there?" "Yes." "So something already happened." "Yes, we recovered it. The Twilight Elf that serves the Eldritch sought to steal it. We recovered it from him, although he escaped. The Eldritch know that it's here, at least broadly speaking. The Noldor who created it does not." "It has a property of anchoring, that much I can see. It will not be easy to move it by any non standard method. If they know where it is now, they will try to come for it, although your palace has put paid to a number of their schemes in the past. They may try again with heavier resources. I would see to my defenses and increase the watch on the gates." "We will think about your suggestion about concealing it further. It's difficult, because it is a holy object as well." "Yes. And to transfer it to your Holy See would almost certainly have to be done by boat. I'm not sure that a voller could remain in the air with that aboard." "Its anchoring is that powerful? We knew that it would block teleportation or the like, but to even block a voller." "It's the strongest anchoring I've ever seen. How it was stolen and gotten this far from its creator escapes me. The thief must have been very good." "We think that he was both very good, and also very highly blessed by Glordiadel." "That is a strong indicator. I doubt they would look this far, until apparently the Eldritch did. That's to your advantage--the Eldritch will never share its location with its creator. But that is a reason to not move it to your Holy See--if its creator heard of it there, I do not think any human fortification, however blessed, could withstand an assault by a Noldor lord." "Yes. There's another reason why I think we cannot move it to the See of Light. Suffice to say that I think that it would be inappropriate to disrespect a saint's judgment that it does not belong there." "Reasonable." "I think we understand why the saint would have thought that. Of course, the saint also didn't think it belonged to the palace, so..." Dame Brionna says, "Yes, but also it got stolen from where he put it." "Well, it seems to me that the Protector of the Light was not in the palace in the saint's time," comments the midwife. "That's fair. My family has always been Glordiadelian, but they have not always been quite as positioned in the Church. I think that most of my ancestors have been about as personally faithful as I am, and most of them have also understood the rule requiring that the Archduke or Archduchess must be extremely devout regardless of how devout the person holding that office might be." She almost remarks on that, but stops herself. "I would offer to leave a few fighters here to help guard it, but your palace is guarded as well as any palace can be." "Yes, I think that your people's efforts are better spent elsewhere." She bows slightly to the relic. "I do sense the presence of your god about it, and the presence of someone else. That may be your saint. What is his name?" "Reuben of the Third Eye." "Ah. The third eye is for sight, but not the face's sight. The sight that humans sometimes receive, that we very rarely see, that they need for psionics." "That was what we had thought." "I'm certain that that is what it is. That may be how he was able to slip in and out of a Noldor's holding." "That's what we thought, too." "They are too arrogant to accept the idea that the humans could outsmart them. That was true for many races in our own world, too. But their arrogance makes them blind, in a way that the humble can see accurately. Thank you for your confidence, Your Majesty, my ladies." "And, as we said, it is important that this stay secret. There are many people who must not know what is here." "Oh, no one will hear about this. I will be far too busy worrying about Miss Staben. And the children. And the young scallywag, their father." * * * They spend a while discussing how to get the troops to patrol the area near the Great Mine. The most obviously available army is the field army in and around Lyneham, though it is doing important infrastructure work and helping with the resettlement of the refugees. They discuss sending it west, to the Cities of Trade, and then moving it into position--using a story about increased tariffs on military movements from Gates to justify it. But that would take a long time--months at least--to get into position. They could airlift troops by voller, but that's both limited by their small number of vollers and not at all subtle for an operation that they want to take the enemy by surprise. Finally, they decide to send two legions from the field armies in the west of the Archduchy. That's only about 200 miles, so perhaps 10-20 days to get them into position, which is about as fast as they could get troops there piecemeal by voller. And because they're already in that region and patrolling, it can be done reasonably subtly, beginning with extending patrols further in that direction. They decide to not send additional troops moving beyond that until they start getting reports back, but they make sure they have good leaders and plenty of lead with them--perhaps even a thin layer of lead placed over their armor to protect them, although the dust from that would not be ideal. [End Session 152] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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