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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: 8731984" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 121 (December 16, 2020)</p><p></p><p>24 Ras (cont'd)</p><p>Dame Brionna consults with Lady Constance about the Queen-Empress. “If we knew the true name of the Usurper, we could use that for various powerful effects. She uses no name, because for a demon of great power, it would need to be a variation of her true name. And a sufficiently powerful and skilled demonist or daemonist could unscramble her use name.”</p><p></p><p>“How would you find her true name?”</p><p></p><p>“Attempt to capture some of the nobles from planes with which she is associated and torture them for information. I thought she might be the Princess of Pain, but my friends in the Holy See who have tortured some of her allies do not find any resonance there. We know that it is not Lolth, we know it is not the Queen of the Succubi, we know it is not the Queen of Chaos as she is still bound, but that leaves some 200 ranking female nobles of the Abyss.”</p><p></p><p>“We know that she was the Noldar called the Seductress, and then a duchess of Hell, and then a demon lady. Would her name as a Noldar or Duchess of Hell help?”</p><p></p><p>“Her name as a Duchess of Hell might; her name as a Noldar has been severed and has no connection.”</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna says, “What about her son, Valek? He’s a devil, and he hates her. Or Malaket, who certainly does not know.”</p><p></p><p>“He might know, or know something. Would you wish me to try to summon him? I would like to summon him, but not bind him, I think, as he must help us of his own free will.”</p><p></p><p>We make sure that he is unlikely to escape, and upon reassurance, agree.</p><p></p><p>25 Ras</p><p>Kit’s to do list:</p><p>Continue investigation of the corrupted Glordiadelian treasurer</p><p>Find out what’s going on with the Crystal Cities mobilizing towards Hanal</p><p></p><p>Alistair’s to do list:</p><p>Find out who tried to kill the Patriarch and what potential successor may have been suborned</p><p></p><p>The Cathedral reports to Princess Kaitlyn and Kit that large quantities of sacramental blessed food and drink is missing.</p><p></p><p>“While that is not of great monetary value, your majesty, we understand that it can be used for summoning—if it has been debased.”</p><p></p><p>Kit asks, “How can we trace those or find where they went?”</p><p></p><p>“We know which storehouse it should have been in, we know what the records say went out, and we know that they did not arrive at the parishes in those numbers—apparently the Treasurer falsified the records. We first checked the storehouse, but they are not there either. There may be as many as, in the last year, 3000 of holy food missing—the Feast of the Sun. They have already had the initial blessing, and so they could be debased for foul purposes. We left the pallets where they should have been undisturbed.”</p><p></p><p>“Was anything else missing?”</p><p></p><p>“Not that we were able to trace through the books.”</p><p></p><p>“Who was in charge of those requisitions?”</p><p></p><p>“The Treasurer.”</p><p></p><p>“Of course.”</p><p></p><p>“The money was a steady trickle of money for years, but never a large amount at one time. About five years total.”</p><p></p><p>They perform an obeisance as they leave. Kaitlyn comments that she finds that hard to get used to—the bowing and scraping—since they never did that sort of thing in her home realms. She chats about that with Kit.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>Kit has a meeting with Anastasia.</p><p></p><p>“Crystal Cities? They’ve been withdrawn from contact with everyone since before I was born. They are very powerful, but they have mostly wanted to be left alone. Especially after the terrible attack a century ago, when an Argoni lord attacked with four field armies of uruks. The field armies were wiped out, and his aide was killed. The Argoni lord—Quinliart—retreated to Enclaves, and it’s said that he went mad. But the Crystal Cities became withdrawn. After my mother tested their borders, they wiped out the legions involved entirely and returned the commander’s head in a true-silver box.</p><p></p><p>“If they are mobilizing, they think that we will attack them.”</p><p></p><p>“Or they want to strike against the faction related to Quinliart.”</p><p></p><p>“Perhaps. I cannot imagine them wanting to get involved in our internal matters. If they thought it might hurt Quinliart, however…”</p><p></p><p>Kit decides that she needs to try to move up our meeting with the Council of the Crystal Cities, scheduled for a month’s time out.</p><p></p><p>She goes to the communications matrix and gets patched through. The Lady of Ruby appears. “Ah. Dame Katherine, I recall.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, thank you for meeting with me. I know we are scheduled to have a meeting in a month’s time, but I wished to ask some questions and perhaps move up the meeting.”</p><p></p><p>“You can ask questions. I cannot say about moving up the meeting, and my husband is attending to readying the vollers.”</p><p></p><p>“That’s what we wanted to ask about. That’s a remarkable step for your cities.”</p><p></p><p>“It has come to our attention that he intends to make another try. We have opened contacts with new outside sources. And we have learned where he has gone to ground, and we have learned that he hopes to send half-human legions against us. We will not permit a further slaughter of our children. So we are considering a pre-emptive assault. We have never done that since the beginning of time, but we do have the capability. And we were inspired by the assault of the Lady of Aufaulgautharim. We may follow her example and strike them before they can strike us.”</p><p></p><p>“You say you know where your target is. Where is it?”</p><p></p><p>“He is deeply buried beneath their capital city. He has erected an eldritch matrix, and combined his powers with the forces he has stupidly allied with to raise the barrier, along with his psionic power.”</p><p></p><p>Kit works to try to get Anastasia and the Lady of Ruby to coordinate together and share their common goals—or at least common targets. Kit succeeds in getting them to talk together, despite the fact that she is Thyastis’s daughter and Thyastis commanded the probes against the Crystal Cities.</p><p></p><p>“There’s so much energy inducted into his fraudulent queen through ritual that she is far more powerful than she should be. And she can lend that to him. We are trying to calculate how dangerous that makes him. But there are only six of us after all. It has been a very long time since we have had actual allies. We were among the uncommitted. Alliances with us generally ended—that’s why we treasure our children so much.”</p><p></p><p>[cont'd]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8731984, member: 7030144"] Session 121 (December 16, 2020) 24 Ras (cont'd) Dame Brionna consults with Lady Constance about the Queen-Empress. “If we knew the true name of the Usurper, we could use that for various powerful effects. She uses no name, because for a demon of great power, it would need to be a variation of her true name. And a sufficiently powerful and skilled demonist or daemonist could unscramble her use name.” “How would you find her true name?” “Attempt to capture some of the nobles from planes with which she is associated and torture them for information. I thought she might be the Princess of Pain, but my friends in the Holy See who have tortured some of her allies do not find any resonance there. We know that it is not Lolth, we know it is not the Queen of the Succubi, we know it is not the Queen of Chaos as she is still bound, but that leaves some 200 ranking female nobles of the Abyss.” “We know that she was the Noldar called the Seductress, and then a duchess of Hell, and then a demon lady. Would her name as a Noldar or Duchess of Hell help?” “Her name as a Duchess of Hell might; her name as a Noldar has been severed and has no connection.” Dame Brionna says, “What about her son, Valek? He’s a devil, and he hates her. Or Malaket, who certainly does not know.” “He might know, or know something. Would you wish me to try to summon him? I would like to summon him, but not bind him, I think, as he must help us of his own free will.” We make sure that he is unlikely to escape, and upon reassurance, agree. 25 Ras Kit’s to do list: Continue investigation of the corrupted Glordiadelian treasurer Find out what’s going on with the Crystal Cities mobilizing towards Hanal Alistair’s to do list: Find out who tried to kill the Patriarch and what potential successor may have been suborned The Cathedral reports to Princess Kaitlyn and Kit that large quantities of sacramental blessed food and drink is missing. “While that is not of great monetary value, your majesty, we understand that it can be used for summoning—if it has been debased.” Kit asks, “How can we trace those or find where they went?” “We know which storehouse it should have been in, we know what the records say went out, and we know that they did not arrive at the parishes in those numbers—apparently the Treasurer falsified the records. We first checked the storehouse, but they are not there either. There may be as many as, in the last year, 3000 of holy food missing—the Feast of the Sun. They have already had the initial blessing, and so they could be debased for foul purposes. We left the pallets where they should have been undisturbed.” “Was anything else missing?” “Not that we were able to trace through the books.” “Who was in charge of those requisitions?” “The Treasurer.” “Of course.” “The money was a steady trickle of money for years, but never a large amount at one time. About five years total.” They perform an obeisance as they leave. Kaitlyn comments that she finds that hard to get used to—the bowing and scraping—since they never did that sort of thing in her home realms. She chats about that with Kit. * * * Kit has a meeting with Anastasia. “Crystal Cities? They’ve been withdrawn from contact with everyone since before I was born. They are very powerful, but they have mostly wanted to be left alone. Especially after the terrible attack a century ago, when an Argoni lord attacked with four field armies of uruks. The field armies were wiped out, and his aide was killed. The Argoni lord—Quinliart—retreated to Enclaves, and it’s said that he went mad. But the Crystal Cities became withdrawn. After my mother tested their borders, they wiped out the legions involved entirely and returned the commander’s head in a true-silver box. “If they are mobilizing, they think that we will attack them.” “Or they want to strike against the faction related to Quinliart.” “Perhaps. I cannot imagine them wanting to get involved in our internal matters. If they thought it might hurt Quinliart, however…” Kit decides that she needs to try to move up our meeting with the Council of the Crystal Cities, scheduled for a month’s time out. She goes to the communications matrix and gets patched through. The Lady of Ruby appears. “Ah. Dame Katherine, I recall.” “Yes, thank you for meeting with me. I know we are scheduled to have a meeting in a month’s time, but I wished to ask some questions and perhaps move up the meeting.” “You can ask questions. I cannot say about moving up the meeting, and my husband is attending to readying the vollers.” “That’s what we wanted to ask about. That’s a remarkable step for your cities.” “It has come to our attention that he intends to make another try. We have opened contacts with new outside sources. And we have learned where he has gone to ground, and we have learned that he hopes to send half-human legions against us. We will not permit a further slaughter of our children. So we are considering a pre-emptive assault. We have never done that since the beginning of time, but we do have the capability. And we were inspired by the assault of the Lady of Aufaulgautharim. We may follow her example and strike them before they can strike us.” “You say you know where your target is. Where is it?” “He is deeply buried beneath their capital city. He has erected an eldritch matrix, and combined his powers with the forces he has stupidly allied with to raise the barrier, along with his psionic power.” Kit works to try to get Anastasia and the Lady of Ruby to coordinate together and share their common goals—or at least common targets. Kit succeeds in getting them to talk together, despite the fact that she is Thyastis’s daughter and Thyastis commanded the probes against the Crystal Cities. “There’s so much energy inducted into his fraudulent queen through ritual that she is far more powerful than she should be. And she can lend that to him. We are trying to calculate how dangerous that makes him. But there are only six of us after all. It has been a very long time since we have had actual allies. We were among the uncommitted. Alliances with us generally ended—that’s why we treasure our children so much.” [cont'd] [/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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