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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: 8701965" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 119, cont'd]</p><p>We decide to talk to the actual illithids about that—see if they know anything about Arthranax’s illithid like followers. Kit reaches out to her illithid friend on the fan.</p><p></p><p>“Souldrinkers!”</p><p></p><p>“That’s what they’re called?”</p><p></p><p>“They’re cousins. There aren’t many of them left. They’re from one of the home planes that was almost entirely consumed by the enemy. Those that are left come in two varieties. Some of their septs serve them, and they serve loyally. One of their larger septs defied them—they’re still in their home plane, being starved slowly.”</p><p></p><p>“Can we bring them here?”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know how. You know how my people are divided and some only consume the brains of lesser creatures? They are divided the same way. The ones that serve the ancient enemies will consume the soul force of any creature. The sept that defied them will only consume the soul force of lesser creatures—rats, or pigs. Now they sell their services, because there is not enough life energy left on their homeworld. They cannot simply leave and go elsewhere—there is so little life left on their homeworld that they are drawn back to it. But newborns, born on this plane, would be bound to the plane where they are born, so if their master were to bring them long enough… Twenty years is about how long the process would take to begin, though they then live two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty years.</p><p></p><p>“I have a question for you. Do you have any idea how much liquid is in a raspberry?”</p><p></p><p>Kit mostly ignores the inexplicable question. “About the souldrinkers: how many of them would there be on our plane, and how long can they remain?”</p><p></p><p>“There are probably less than six-hundred of them total. They can only stay on this plane for a few days, but they can then be summoned again. Their sept leaders—with the jewelry—are very dangerous. They can drain the motive energy of a person, sometimes almost instantly. They can be hedged out. They’re psionic, of course, like us. But they have no redaction. Some of them are magi—often powerful. They’re very difficult to physically damage on this plane, because they’re never fully on this plane. Ghost-touch items should be able to damage them, or psionic combat. Guarding life energy is very important—melee range is very dangerous. But they do not have to touch you—they can touch your etheric body without touching you.”</p><p></p><p>“Is there a way to communicate with the defiant sept?”</p><p></p><p>“Oh. You would have to first make contact with them. You would have to send someone to the home plane, unless someone happened to come into your presence.”</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>They send out warnings about the melded impostors.</p><p></p><p>Alistair orders Lady Cassandra’s body decapitated, heart burned, and then processed throughout the Duchy of Furrows, with announcements that she was engaged in both high and low treason, heresiarchy, murder, kidnapping, and sundry other crimes, before finally having her body and head brought to Caligshire and displayed publicly.</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna reports on a letter from Alphonse, originally of the South Kingdoms—an old playmate of hers. [See attached] All of his people made it to the mainland; only his older siblings and parents and soldiers died. They took a territory near the southeastern lands of the new lands. They trade with some ratfolk, and fight with other ratfolk. He’s a loyal servant of the Princess, now Empress. He saw a battle between a flying galleon which was flying an unrelieved red banner and was attacked by blighted gryphons which cursed the ground where they fell. He requests clerical support. (They arrange for priests of Glor’diadel to be sent to support them.)</p><p></p><p>The Council consults with Grandmaster Farsensor. "They were originally gryphons, changed by an infusion of vile energy. The energy will dissipate over time, though it will take about two years. It won’t corrupt the scavengers, but it may kill some of them. Burning them might be a good idea, though the smoke might be poisonous at short range. That particular breed was seen before, in the First Age, when they first made the attempt. They had to be wiped out, because they breed true. We hunted them down, but there were more of us then. Their second attempt failed quickly. Rarely spoken of. Haven’t been seen until now." He agrees to inform his Queen and ask her to place some schooners to patrol against them. </p><p></p><p>They also tell him about the souldrinkers. He is surprised that the enemy did not consume that plane entirely. "They are dangerous in a different way from the enemy—while they can drink life energy quite quickly, that’s a terror tactic more than anything else. They can pass through walls that aren’t warded, they can listen unseen from the etheric. They are powerful spies.</p><p></p><p>"The defiant sept was at one time quite large, and they also spied on our behalf. I very much doubt that any of the ones I knew in the First Age are still alive."</p><p></p><p>They plan on sending an illithid or two, plus some human adventurers, to make contact with the sept.</p><p></p><p>There has been movement in the Crystal Cities, towards Hanal. They’re gathering at the Ruby City, and preparing en masse. [See attached]</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>Alistair has an awkward conversation with Kit about needing to find out if the Empress might have any special friends—or interest in special friends. Kit agrees that they need to figure that out, because of the potential security issues, and suggests that the first step should be discussing it with the Empress directly—something that she makes clear Alistair will need to deal with.</p><p>[End Session 119]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8701965, member: 7030144"] [Session 119, cont'd] We decide to talk to the actual illithids about that—see if they know anything about Arthranax’s illithid like followers. Kit reaches out to her illithid friend on the fan. “Souldrinkers!” “That’s what they’re called?” “They’re cousins. There aren’t many of them left. They’re from one of the home planes that was almost entirely consumed by the enemy. Those that are left come in two varieties. Some of their septs serve them, and they serve loyally. One of their larger septs defied them—they’re still in their home plane, being starved slowly.” “Can we bring them here?” “I don’t know how. You know how my people are divided and some only consume the brains of lesser creatures? They are divided the same way. The ones that serve the ancient enemies will consume the soul force of any creature. The sept that defied them will only consume the soul force of lesser creatures—rats, or pigs. Now they sell their services, because there is not enough life energy left on their homeworld. They cannot simply leave and go elsewhere—there is so little life left on their homeworld that they are drawn back to it. But newborns, born on this plane, would be bound to the plane where they are born, so if their master were to bring them long enough… Twenty years is about how long the process would take to begin, though they then live two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty years. “I have a question for you. Do you have any idea how much liquid is in a raspberry?” Kit mostly ignores the inexplicable question. “About the souldrinkers: how many of them would there be on our plane, and how long can they remain?” “There are probably less than six-hundred of them total. They can only stay on this plane for a few days, but they can then be summoned again. Their sept leaders—with the jewelry—are very dangerous. They can drain the motive energy of a person, sometimes almost instantly. They can be hedged out. They’re psionic, of course, like us. But they have no redaction. Some of them are magi—often powerful. They’re very difficult to physically damage on this plane, because they’re never fully on this plane. Ghost-touch items should be able to damage them, or psionic combat. Guarding life energy is very important—melee range is very dangerous. But they do not have to touch you—they can touch your etheric body without touching you.” “Is there a way to communicate with the defiant sept?” “Oh. You would have to first make contact with them. You would have to send someone to the home plane, unless someone happened to come into your presence.” * * * They send out warnings about the melded impostors. Alistair orders Lady Cassandra’s body decapitated, heart burned, and then processed throughout the Duchy of Furrows, with announcements that she was engaged in both high and low treason, heresiarchy, murder, kidnapping, and sundry other crimes, before finally having her body and head brought to Caligshire and displayed publicly. Dame Brionna reports on a letter from Alphonse, originally of the South Kingdoms—an old playmate of hers. [See attached] All of his people made it to the mainland; only his older siblings and parents and soldiers died. They took a territory near the southeastern lands of the new lands. They trade with some ratfolk, and fight with other ratfolk. He’s a loyal servant of the Princess, now Empress. He saw a battle between a flying galleon which was flying an unrelieved red banner and was attacked by blighted gryphons which cursed the ground where they fell. He requests clerical support. (They arrange for priests of Glor’diadel to be sent to support them.) The Council consults with Grandmaster Farsensor. "They were originally gryphons, changed by an infusion of vile energy. The energy will dissipate over time, though it will take about two years. It won’t corrupt the scavengers, but it may kill some of them. Burning them might be a good idea, though the smoke might be poisonous at short range. That particular breed was seen before, in the First Age, when they first made the attempt. They had to be wiped out, because they breed true. We hunted them down, but there were more of us then. Their second attempt failed quickly. Rarely spoken of. Haven’t been seen until now." He agrees to inform his Queen and ask her to place some schooners to patrol against them. They also tell him about the souldrinkers. He is surprised that the enemy did not consume that plane entirely. "They are dangerous in a different way from the enemy—while they can drink life energy quite quickly, that’s a terror tactic more than anything else. They can pass through walls that aren’t warded, they can listen unseen from the etheric. They are powerful spies. "The defiant sept was at one time quite large, and they also spied on our behalf. I very much doubt that any of the ones I knew in the First Age are still alive." They plan on sending an illithid or two, plus some human adventurers, to make contact with the sept. There has been movement in the Crystal Cities, towards Hanal. They’re gathering at the Ruby City, and preparing en masse. [See attached] * * * Alistair has an awkward conversation with Kit about needing to find out if the Empress might have any special friends—or interest in special friends. Kit agrees that they need to figure that out, because of the potential security issues, and suggests that the first step should be discussing it with the Empress directly—something that she makes clear Alistair will need to deal with. [End Session 119] [/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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