Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)
- Thread starter Sagiro
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KidCthulhu
First Post
Everett said:
I'm slapping stick right now, IYKWIM
Gold Roger
First Post
Inivane has just become my favorite NPC from this storyhour. So magic works, but they lost everything magic they had. Does that mean they have to rebind to their familiars?
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Not ours. We hate the bastard, partially because he's opposed to everything we love and partially because he made us have another one of those moral debates.Gold Roger said:
(You think I'm kidding. Consensus decision making is tough when one of the group (Ernie) believes in happiness and light and redeeming people, and one of the group (Morningstar) is utterly pragmatic and believes that a good defense involves killing the offense so they don't re-offend.)
Speaking of pragmatic, how 'bout that Inivane? Totally amoral, but highly ethical. He could have been one of us, if we had different loyalties. You can tell he's a bad guy because we kind of liked him at first too. Sagiro's NPCs are maddeningly complex.
Magic was just suppressed. When our spellcasting abilities came back, so did our magic items. I wouldn't put it past Sagiro to junk all our stuff, but luckily it didn't come to that.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Piratecat said:
Reminds me of how the players in my 'Out of th Frying Pan' game decided they were going to take out one of their foes before he spoke. Not because they were afraid of his spells, but because they were certain he would reveal some peice of knowledge that would cause them to question their choices and argue about it for three hours.
That is when you get players asking themselves, "Hmmm, has this guy been evil enough in the past that we know of so that we can just kill him right now and not have to justify it to ourselves later?"
And of course, my answer to that is, "Well, if you have to ask, maybe he hasn't."
Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
And Flicker!Everett said:
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 261
The Beans are Spilled
Morningstar is unconvinced; she casts detect thoughts, but the Sharshun resists. Kibi continues under the assumption that Inivane will now be more forthcoming.
“So, what are you doing here? What are you trying to accomplish?”
Inivane shifts himself into the most comfortable position he can, smiles at Kibi, and answers.
“I’m here to change the course of history,” he says amiably. “Into something more... palatable.”
Well, that confirms a few suspicions!
“What do you have to do, in order to do that?” Kibi continues.
“Warn the Emperor, of course.”
“Do you know when we are?”
Inivane thinks a moment. “We weren’t exactly sure. I suspect we’re in the vicinity of the year 200.”
The Company knows that the numbering of years was reset when the Emperor Naloric was first driven out of Charagan, so all this really tells them is that they’re probably more than 2000 years in the past. Yikes!
“What do you want to warn the Emperor about?” asks Kibi.
“Oh, you know how things went, back in the future. Goodness, you were there, you saw how history ended up. From what I gather, you were personally instrumental in some of the later failures.”
“Wait,” says Dranko. “You’re warning the Emperor about us?”
“Of course not!” laughs Inivane. “If I succeed, things will never get to that point. In fact, you’ll never be born. For that matter, neither will I. Of course, the success of my mission is highly in doubt at the moment.”
“Did you have a plan for getting back to your proper time?” asks Dranko. “Or were you planning on living out the rest of your life here?”
“I wasn’t sure. It appears I’m stuck here. I though I might be able to use the Eyes to get back, but that seems unlikely now. But it doesn’t matter. My duty is to the Emperor. My personal welfare is of little import.”
Kibi speaks again. “Have you done anything to fulfill your mission other than end up here?”
“My intention had been to arrive here, and activate a ring that I was wearing,” says Inivane, glancing at his finger.
“What would it do?”
“It would have teleported me to the Emperor.”
“Really?” exclaims Dranko. “That’s brilliant!
“How would you have activated it?” asks Kibi.
“It’s thought activated,” explains Inivane. He frowns. “It should have just worked. I don’t know how they made it, so I can’t be sure what went wrong.”
“Very impressive,” says Dranko. “But tell me. I could have sworn that, a long time ago, we saw somebody go through the Mirrors on Flashing Day, holding an Eye of Moirel. Did...”
“You don’t mean a long time ago,” interrupts Inivane. “You mean a long time from now. Yes?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean. Did that not work? Clearly you managed to get that Eye of Moirel back.”
“I wasn’t there for that test, but I read all the materials. It worked. It worked just fine. It was spatial travel, not temporal, since our agent only had one Eye with him. Again, I’m no expert, but I gather that was an important step toward calibrating some enchantments that were later placed on my circlet.”
And so, another mystery explained. The Company by now is satisfied that Kibi’s suggestion has taken fully.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” says Inivane. “What are you doing here? I’m quite curious.”
“Truth is, we’re not quite sure,” says Dranko. “We were following a prophecy, and we found ourselves here, kind of at loose ends.”
“I hope you like it here, because you’re stuck here too,” says Inivane.
“It does seem that way,” says Kibi, nodding. “We hoped you had some sneaky back door way of getting home.”
“There is no ‘sneaky back door way’ of getting back. I’m sorry. I wish there was, for all of our sakes.”
Getting back to an earlier line of questioning, Kibi asks, “Tell us more specifically just what happened to the Emperor, that you were going to warn him against.”
“I was going to warn him about the group that would defeat him, if he didn’t do something about them. I was going to warn Naloric about the Spire.”
That produces a chorus of ‘Ahhhhhhhhhh’s from the Company, which prompts Inivane to ask: “Don’t you people read your history?”
“We couldn’t!” Dranko gripes. “There was the Masking!”
Inivane laughs. “Oh, yes, I see. Well, as you probably know, the reason Naloric tried to come back from Volpos was because he had been driven there after ruling for Charagan for many hundreds of years. The Spire had been plotting against him in secret, planning their little war, and they somehow got the upper hand, and they drove Naloric into exile. Things will go much better if that never happens, so I’m here to warn him not to let the Spire... fester.”
“You know,” Ernie chimes in. “You succeeded. In the future, the Emperor won.”
“He did? Splendid!” Inivane’s face breaks into a grin for just a second, but then it fades. “But, no, that was before you showed up. Now there’s no way to be sure. It’s possible that your being here is all part of the history that leads to Naloric’s victory, but I’m not betting on it.”
There are a few seconds of silence, during which Inivane shifts his weight again so that his legs stop falling asleep.
“Say,” says Dranko, thinking of another question. “Naloric had a big digging fetish. He always had lots of slaves digging. Do you know why?”
“No, I’m not sure. He’s always been very interested in that, though.”
“What did Darkeye do to that guy with the moustache?” asks Ernie, thinking of poor Sagiro.
“I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re talking about,” says Inivane, shaking his head. He glowers, though, as if the subject pains him.
“Hey, remember the bitch who was with us when we freed you?” asks Dranko.
“Yes, I do. Rosetta, her name was, right?”
“Did you kill her?” asks Dranko. “Or do you know who did?”
“Killed her when?”
“In the future.”
“She’s dead?”
“We don’t know. She disappeared while investigating... you know, Sharshun stuff. We just figured...”
“Had she crossed my path,” says Inivane, “I would have tried to kill her. But she didn’t, and I didn’t.”
“Darkeye must be a truly impressive leader,” says Dranko. “What do you think the most impressive and...”
Inivane interrupts sharply. “I’m not going to talk about her, I’m sorry. I wish that I could, but I’ve made some promises, and, you know how things are.”
“Aw, that’s okay,” Dranko assures him, smiling. “What have you been up to since the time we saw you last?”
“I rejoined the Sharshun,” answers Inivane.
“Were they glad to see you?” Dranko asks.
“Yes, they were. In fact, as soon as they saw me, they knew I was a natural to go on this mission, since I might actually know the people here, if the timing worked out. Plus, they wanted someone without a poison sac, and mine had been removed before I was locked away in God’s Thorn.
“So, did the Sharshun just start you training for this mission, or did they make you prove yourself first?”
Inivane looks offended. “I didn’t have to prove myself. In fact, they trusted me in part because they had read about me in certain historical records.”
“Oh, right,” says Dranko with a laugh. “See, the Masking... we don’t have books about the Sharshun lying around. Were there really books about you?”
“A few passages,” says Inivane.
“Was it funny, reading about yourself after all that time?”
“Yes. They exaggerated some points, got some details wrong. I offered corrections. But I spent a lot of time relaxing. I deserved it, after centuries of torture.”
“Absolutely!” agrees Dranko.
“Any other missions?” asks Morningstar.
“No, this was my mission. But as I said, I’m not sure if I’ve succeeded or not. There’s no way for any of us to know. Say, I’m curious about something else. How did you manage to travel back in time, with only the Eyes that you had?”
“We had three ourselves,’ says Kibi. “Just like you.”
“Four, actually,” Dranko corrects. “We found two of them in the Hets.”
“Hets?”
“You don’t know what that is?”
“No,” says Inivane. “What’s a Het?”
“It’s like a henway,” explains Dranko.
“A henway? What’s a he...”
Inivane barely avoids the set-up. He sighs. “Must you be so banal?”
“Yes,” says Aravis. “He must.”
“Sooooo,” says Kibi, “why do you think your three Eyes would let you go back in time, but our four wouldn’t?”
“I personally don’t know much about them,” admits Inivane. “But we have the books that Condor wrote.”
Flashback, to several months earlier. The Company has returned from Kivia with the Crosser’s Maze, and has just completed their mission to find out what happened to the Spire agent Carbuncle. Now, back in the Greenhouse, they find their two Eyes of Moirel have lodged in the eye-sockets of their new orcish torchbearer, Skorg. Most of what they portend concerns Grey Wolf and the Black Circle plot to merge Abernia and Volpos, but there is also this:
CONDOR IS A NAME YOU HEARD LONG AGO, GREATEST OF NALORIC’S INNER CIRCLE. HE DROVE A SPIKE THROUGH THE FABRIC OF ALL THINGS, AND LOCKED THE HOLE WITH SEVEN KEYS. HE TOLD NALORIC THAT IT WOULD BE NECESSARY, TO CORRECT FUTURE MISTAKES THAT COULD NOT BE CORRECTED...
“You do?” asks Dranko. “Really?”
“Where are they?” asks Kibi eagerly.
“I really shouldn’t be telling you these things,” says Inivane. “I could get in trouble. Like I said, there are things I’ve made promises to keep secret. I’ve probably said too much already.”
No. Really? You don’t say!
“Our Eyes pretty much just told us what to do,” says Kibi.
“They talked to you?” says Inivane in obvious surprise.
“Didn’t yours talk to you?” asks Dranko smugly.
“Of course not. They’re rocks!”
“No, they’re intelligent,” says Dranko.
“Really? Intelligent?”
“Absolutely,” says Aravis.
“Well, that’s galling!”
“They only talk when they feel like it, which isn’t often,” adds Kibi.
“In theory, they didn’t like what you were doing, and were willing to help us stop you,” says Aravis.
“I was under the impression that they had to be forced, if you didn’t have all seven,” says Inivane.
There’s another ten seconds of silence, after which Inivane asks softly: “Can I go now?”
There’s more silence, and the Company moves off again for a final brief conference. Everyone realizes that it’s harder now, having seen Inivane so pleasant and cooperative. Harder, but not too hard.
“Have we promised not to kill him?” asks Yoba, her face grim.
“No, we have not,” says Aravis. “And, literally, millions of lives hang in the balance.”
“I understand,” says Yoba. “Still, we should make it as quick and painless as possible.”
“I’ll do it,” says Ernie, his voice barely more than a whisper.
Yoba holds his hand. “Are you sure?”
Ernie nods. “I can do it with mercy, and without rancor.”
Without giving himself time to hesitate, Ernie draws his sword and moves behind Inivane.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“Sorry for what?” asks Inivane.
Ernie stabs him swiftly through the back of the neck. The Sharshun does indeed die quickly, though not without a last expression of utter betrayal.
...to be continued...
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