Sagiro's Story Hour: The FINAL Adventures of Abernathy's Company (FINISHED 7/3/14)

[Kaodi]

What about three?

Bliss.

 

[StevenAC]

For me, this is the turning point: everything gathers momentum from here. The noise you hear, at least in my memory, is the roller coaster cresting the rise.

Heh.

Looking forward to this.

This made me laugh a lot, when I remembered the following comment, posted by Kidcthulhu over a decade ago:

We've just finished playing. The group agrees. We are so amazingly f#$*-ed. There are not words for how much trouble we're in.

Several runs ago, Sagiro told us that much of the story until now has been the big, long upward climb of the rollercoaster. Well, children, it's time to put your hands in the air and scream, because we've just crested the top, and seen the long, long down.

You'll find that moment near the end of chapter 6 of the collected Story Hour -- in the run-up to the Company's confrontation with Mokad and the Black Circle's attempted planar conjunction in Kallor. I well remember how amazingly epic that fight seemed at the time -- it's still one of my favourite parts of the story. Today, as chapter 28 nears completion, it's obvious that Sagiro's rollercoaster was a lot bigger than anyone ever imagined...

I'd also like to note that it's exactly a year ago today since Sagiro made the following historic post...

Holy $#@!.

It's over.

It just seems very fitting that on the anniversary of the campaign's conclusion, we've just got our first glimpse in the latest update of the one-way door leading to the endgame. Sagiro, how hard did you have to work to hint to the party that they weren't actually ready for that yet?

(And, by the way, are you still 33 runs behind, or does that status need updating? )

 

[Sagiro]

...I'd also like to note that it's exactly a year ago today since Sagiro made the following historic post...It just seems very fitting that on the anniversary of the campaign's conclusion, we've just got our first glimpse in the latest update of the one-way door leading to the endgame. Sagiro, how hard did you have to work to hint to the party that they weren't actually ready for that yet?

Listening to the tape, I didn't have to work all that hard. Beyond the actual words of Ula herself, I only had to give them one small DM-nudge. There was a very brief discussion about whether the pictures in the Book of Leantha were chronological (in terms of when the party should deal with each), and since the fissure pic came before the Watcher's Kiss pic, a pro-chronological argument might have lead them to assume the golden sword was down in the Depths somewhere. I dropped one comment that the Book wasn't necessarily chronological, and that's all it took to make them commune, just to be sure.

(And, by the way, are you still 33 runs behind, or does that status need updating? )

Strangely, no. It has needed updating constantly since I last set it, but as of this very moment, it's exactly correct. The run where the party met Ula was #233 of the campaign, and according to my notes, the final run was #266 .

I'll start updating my status now as I finish up each run, so readers will be able to use it as a countdown clock.

 

[Zelc]

Listening to the tape, I didn't have to work all that hard. Beyond the actual words of Ula herself, I only had to give them one small DM-nudge. There was a very brief discussion about whether the pictures in the Book of Leantha were chronological (in terms of when the party should deal with each), and since the fissure pic came before the Watcher's Kiss pic, a pro-chronological argument might have lead them to assume the golden sword was down in the Depths somewhere. I dropped one comment that the Book wasn't necessarily chronological, and that's all it took to make them commune, just to be sure.

That would have been... amusing. The party decides to jump into the one-way portal too hastily. Sagiro's brain turns to overdrive to figure out how to salvage the situation so a ~14-year campaign doesn't end with an inevitable TPK .

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

I don't assume that the portal is totally one way. We're told that it's one way by Ula, but she also tells us that no-one is allowed in without her approving them and yet three other people did anyway. I suspect that the rules are that it's one way, but that there are ways to circumvent the rules. Still, far better for our heroes to not have to.

 

[Everett]

Ula is interesting. I wondered what Ula's nature is--is she a god? Some form of avatar of Yulan? A construct of some sort? An empowered mortal? Did the Company spend time talking about that?

Your second guess seems most likely. An avatar of a part of Yulan... imbued with His or Her powers but not with the omniscience of a God, so she appears as a playful child.

And for another refresher, if someone would -- I recall Meledien as one of Morningstar's Ava Dormo adversaries (who had her own red armor, like Octesian?) because she's mentioned often, although I think it's been years real-time since she figured in the story -- but I don't recall Tarsos or Seven Dark Words. Were they another part of the Black Circle cell that the Company killed when performing the rite to free Praska from the other Black Circle-ite inhabiting her?

 

[Everett]

I recall Drosh and Dralla only because the being that Aravis handed over custodianship of the Maze to was a servant of Drosh, and I re-read that subplot recently. ("I'll tell you this, Morningstar of Ell... Dralla is Drosh's child, and He loves Her dearly..."")

 

[Sagiro]

Your second guess seems most likely. An avatar of a part of Yulan... imbued with His or Her powers but not with the omniscience of a God, so she appears as a playful child.

And for another refresher, if someone would -- I recall Meledien as one of Morningstar's Ava Dormo adversaries (who had her own red armor, like Octesian?) because she's mentioned often, although I think it's been years real-time since she figured in the story -- but I don't recall Tarsos or Seven Dark Words. Were they another part of the Black Circle cell that the Company killed when performing the rite to free Praska from the other Black Circle-ite inhabiting her?

Brief refresher for you and anyone who's losing track of things:

Way back when, Emperor Naradawk managed to slip three elite red-armored agents through the planar boundary: Restimar, Octesian and Meledien. Restimar's job was to impersonate humanoid Gods/leaders and whip the orcs, gnolls, etc. of the world into attacking the more civilized peoples. Meledien was tasked with breaking open boxes full of hidden monsters that Naradawk's father, Naloric, had left behind. Both of these tasks were geared toward the greater goal of distracting the Archmagi, who were the ones keeping Naradawk locked out of Abernia. Octesian had a similar goal; scout out the Dreamscape, and prepare for a dream-assault on Semek's tower that would be timed with Naradawk's battering down of the planar portal at Verdshane. (Semek's tower, and Semek himself, were critical to keeping the portal sealed.)

Restimar was killed by the Company, while he was impersonating a legendary orcish warlord known as the Chun Aggrat. Meledien was driven away from Verdshane by Cencerra and her adventuring group, but escaped. Octesian was driven out of the Dreamscape by Morningstar and her Ellish sisters during the Battle of Verdshane, but he also escaped. Eventually Octesian decided to try traveling through Ava Dormo to the Far Realms prison where the Adversary was imprisoned. He planned on trying a rescue, but failed, and his brush with the Far Realms drove him mad. Now he's come back to seek revenge on Morningstar for her past transgressions, and is apparently killing people in their sleep. That's something the party will have to deal with, and soon.

Tarsos is another one of Naradawk's red-armored cadre. He was one of the soldiers who made it through the planar portal at Verdshane before Aravis closed it again. He eventually joined up with the missing Meledien and infected/"blessed" her with Essence (Adversary blood). The two of them then went to Naslund to steal Wards of Drosh, which allow mortals to survive in the immediate presence of Gods. While they were there, they killed Cencerra and her party, and also stole two powerful artifacts from the tombs of dead Gods. (One of these is the Spear of Caba, which destroys the souls of victims whose hearts are burned out with it.)

Finally there is Seven Dark Words. He was an immensely powerful Black Circle wizard and the architect of Het Branoi, an experiment originally intended to be a beacon to the imprisoned Adversary. Seven Dark Words and his Black Circle team made two critical errors: they thought the Adversary was trapped in the Abyss (and not the Far Realms), and they tried powering Het Branoi with an Eye of Moirel. As you may recall, the Eye went haywire, ripping away numerous pockets of other planes and stringing them together in an enormous web. Seven Dark Words was driven mad, and wandered through Het Branoi, carving little statues of Kibi, who, a part of 7DW's brain prophesied, would be the one to "fix" his experiment.

When Het Branoi was shut down, all the bits of planes -- and the people trapped inside them -- were returned to their original worlds. Seven Dark Words eventually recovered his sanity and plane shifted back to Abernia, where he joined up with Meledien and Tarsos. The three of them, infused with Adversary Blood, have apparently broken through Yulan's Iron Barrier that separates the surface world from the underground world of the Depths.

That was about six months ago. They're probably not up to any good.

 

[Everett]

Thanks. I had no idea the Adversary was imprisoned in the Far Realms. And here's another thing I should probably know after 7 years of your story, but don't: who or what exactly is the Adversary in relation to Naradawk and Naloric? An ancestor or just a primordial evil that the Emperor represents?

 

[Sagiro]

Thanks. I had no idea the Adversary was imprisoned in the Far Realms. And here's another thing I should probably know after 7 years of your story, but don't: who or what exactly is the Adversary in relation to Naradawk and Naloric? An ancestor or just a primordial evil that the Emperor represents?

To answer your questions, I will refer you to a pair of Aravis's visions from the Crosser's Maze. They both occurred around the time the Company was dealing with Lord Dafron's assassins.

---
You are back in the tavern again, sitting across from yourself. You have the distinct feeling that, in the Maze, much subjective time has passed since the last time you were here. Also your double’s face seems to shimmer and shift slightly, as if someone – you? – is struggling to see what he really looks like. You get the distinct impression that it’s not you. It’s someone you’ve never met, but you did meet them, once, in a strange place that’s much like where you are now. It’s very confusing. “…found something for you,” says your double. “It’s disturbing. I won’t go back there again – too dangerous. And I don’t know what it means. Here, I’ll share it with you.” Your shifting double reaches forward and grasps your hand, and you are wrenched into another vision – a vision within a vision.

In the inner vision, there is a place of black madness, and something is trapped there. There is an exit from that place, but it is closing rapidly, a hole that is sealing itself, and the being trapped there won’t escape in time. In its anger it reaches a hand through the hole, and the hole closes, and the hand is severed, and so detached it flies through a great void, falling, falling through the ages…

---

You are once again in the tavern, its time and place unknown. You sit across from yourself, though it is not yourself, but rather that elusive someone whom you both have and have not met. He has been speaking to you.

“…history. I find it rather tragic.” Your double grasps your hand, and again you are plunged into a vision within the vision. A tall man dressed in kingly garb stands in a dead and lonely field. He glances to the sides, as if fearing he was followed here. The full moon illuminates his handsome face. The field is not simply dead. It is corrupted, its grass black and reeking, and this man of royal countenance wrinkles his nose even as he takes slow steps inward. He stops when he reaches the center of the field, his feet at the edge of a still black pool hardly bigger than a puddle. He looks down at the pool intently, as if it is whispering and he strains to hear what it’s saying. The man’s lips quirk. “What do you want?” he asks in a trembling voice. “Why have you called me here?” He listens again to the silent field, and then reaches down to touch the surface of the pool…

---

The first of those visions is about the Adversary being trapped in the Far Realms, and his hand being severed by the closing prison. (His hand pursued the fleeing Travelers (The Gods of Darvin) to Abernia, where it impacted the surface and splattered Black Goo, a.k.a. Essence, a.k.a Adversary Blood, in various places around the world.)

In the second vision, an ancient King of Charagan (Hagdan Skewn) is drawn to one of those pools of Essence. (He touched it and became corrupted, twisted and physically powerful. Hagdan's son was Naloric, and his grandson is Naradawk.)