ZEITGEIST Tizbiz Zeitgeist Campaign

[Lylandra]

Session 55
Attack on Titan. Maybe.

Before we call for the Wild Hunt to head for the Bayou, Auryn, in her new position as a member of the Court and envoy of the Dreaming, goes to the Hedgehog Court to explain to Olazdor that she wishes to see an end to the conflict between the two courts and that in this function she wants to champion the interests of all the Fey. Olazdor understands her aim and then explains that there is, for now at least, a truce (which, however, can only be a beginning). Also, he would not waste any more words if he were in her place, but would leave for High Bayou sooner rather than later, should the situation really be as serious as she had portrayed. She understands that Olazdor takes both matters with enough seriousness, thanks him and heads back to Carlyle and Andrei.

(Rock, of course, wants to stay in the Dreaming no matter what.)

So we call the Wild Hunt and have Riffian lend us some of his finest horses. Together we first ride a few detours through Clover before we pick up speed outside the town where steeds fall into a wild gallop. We thus reach the High Bayou quite quickly. However, we soon have to leave the Hunt and our horses behind, as there is hardly any progress for mounts in the underbrush. Riffian offers one final advice to us that the Voice of Rot is quite the talkative Titan when one takes the chance to speak to him, and we remember this nature from our previous encounter with him. Thanks to our connection to the we sense getting closer and closer to his home and the air in the large swamp draws thicker and damper with every step.

Suddenly, however, the Borenbog and a large troll emerge from the nearby webways. Before we can even try telling him to stop, the Borenbog umps at us, eager to cut off parts of our bodies to keep as trophies. We try to bribe him by offering him wine, but he does not respond at all, seemingly having entered a blood rush. We remember his special resistance to weapons and the like and signal each other to draw from separate arsenals. Carlyle attacks him alternately with astral power, kukri blows, fire and disintegration while Andrei tries to wrestle and subdue him. Auryn in turn draws her Arsenal of Dhebisu to attack the Bog. She warns him that she has more weapons at her disposal than he could ever imagine, but unfortunately for him, he is too stupid to realize his lost position. So we kill the Bog and relieve the Dreaming from one horrendous nightmare.

Auryn charms the troll with one of her spells and then sends it home through the webways. She then magically connects with the land and discovers a non-natural ramp nearby, adorned with several weapons. As weapons appear to be exactly what we are looking for, we head in that direction. Eventually, we arrive at a stone ramp surrounded by ponds constructed from cobwebs and dead tree trunks. And it is at this point where we are very certain that we finally entered the realm of the Voice.

As we are about to face the Titan again, and thus walk right to our possible deaths, Auryn turns to Carlyle and asks him to stop for just a moment.

“Is there something not right? Did you notice something?”, he asks, but she slowly shakes her head.

“No. I just... don't know if we both make it out alive, much less to the other side.”

“I know. If you wish to stay at at distance, then-”

“I love you. Even though I promised that I'd put all private matters aside”, Auryn says all of a sudden and without speaking another word, she makes it very clear that she doesn't want to die without having said the unspoken truth.

“I love you, too. And I don't believe that we'll die this day.”, he replies and embraces her.

“Then let's both give all we have. The Voice wasn't able to claim us back then, and he won't do so today.”

(There, as I promised. Only in the face of death she'd openly proclaim such emotions, even though she had acted upon it for a long time. And boy are the Titans tied into their relationship)

She then suggests that both do what each can do best: That she'd try to distract the snake for a while to give sneaky Carlyle the opportunity to take the Sword of the Black Needles and then surrender. Meanwhile, we agree that it'd be best to have Andrei stay at a distance and only intervene as a last resort as both Auryn and Carlyle are “marked” by Srasama and thus protected from the Titan's corrupting essence.

When all this is settled, we move closer to the lair. Auryn then splits into three aspects and turns to the Titan, whom she calls to negotiate with her:

“Voice of Rot! Mighty Titan! I hope that you do remember me!”

Her plan appears to work out as the murky waters begin to stir and the gigantic, rotting body of the Titan appears from below.

“You were not able to make us your agents when we first met. And today I want to show you both my true, inherent power and the power of Srasama combined.”

The Voice hisses and the sound turns to an eerie laughter.

“Very well, Agent of Kelland. Show me.”

The three Auryns split up with her essence being centered in the one furthest away from both the Voice and Carlyle, who is hidden in the mists. As the serpent senses her true self, she switches positions and continues to negotiate.

“So if you still wish to make me your agent, tell me how you'd let me surpass this power?”

Meanwhile, Carlyle pulls all of his tricks to move unseen into the lair where he spots the Sword stuck in a charred treant.


(Yes, he did manage to beat the Voice of Rot's ridiculous perception and life sense by moving behind obstacles and reacting to the Voice's movements and, of course, using both alchemy and magic. His stealth, initiative and perception are totally ludicrous, but he plays these abilities quite nicely in terms of roleplaying)

“Immortality! Isn't that what you mortals crave most? I offer you nothing less than immortality. So you have enough time to build that empire of yours and revive the Eladrin race”

With these words, the Voice snaps at her, getting slowly annoyed by her “magic tricks”.

All the while, Carlyle has arrived at the Treant. He realizes that the creature is being animated by some kind of unholy power and decides to strike it down first. Auryn, fortunately, is able to project herself into another image and save herself from being swallowed whole, while Carlyle chops up the tree.

Now the Voice finally realizes that Auryn isn't alone and we must be after the sword of King Dukain. So the Titan and tries to lunge at Carlyle, but due to him carrying the Book of Kelland, only catches the splintered Treant while Carlyle gets a hold onto the sword.

As soon as he touches the Sword, Carlyle turns to the Titan.

“Voice of Rot, in the name of King Aodhan of Risur, I challenge you!”, he proclaims and dissolves the remains of the treant with a disintegration spell.

The Voice's one eye gleams for one split second with both fury and excitement as Carlyle utters his challenge. Only to see him surrender again with his next breath as we acknowledge the Titan's superiority.

The Titan is infuriated by this audacity and banishes us back to our world as punishment. Just as we had planned.

(This was very little fighting and more playing chess on the battle map as the Vekeshi power really came in handy in distracting the Voice. We had good fun as it turned out to be playing into both characters' strengths)

Since we have to make haste, Carlyle tries once again to use a direct teleport to Slate despite knowing the danger. But unfortunately, we end up back in the Titan's habitat, from which we hastily flee. So we pick up Andrei and three of us rush out of the swamp by foot. Fortunately and, to our astonishment, find the members of the Wild Hunt who appear to be as banished as we are as we reach the end of the path. We greet Riffian who returns the favor with a quick “Huzzah” and then ask him to take his steeds once again as we need to reach our capital as soon as possible. Riffian gladly offers us his support and in return only asks for the tale of our encounter with the Titan.

Before we mount the horses however, we decide to warn King Aodhan of the impending attack with a message spell.

We receive the answer that they know, arrangements have already been made and that the King is safe in the southern bunker. And that we should come to the "Golden Lion" to get more briefing on the situation. Although we are not sure what to make of the “Golden Lion”, which could be anything or anybody, we set off in the general direction of Slate.

On the way, we pass a village where we see that the inhabitants are wearing mourning florals. We ask them which tragedy would have befallen them and eventually learn that the island of Elba had been totally bombed by Danor and that the Duchess Ethelyn was killed in the process. Traitor or not, she was nevertheless the King's sister and it looks like the country is mourning her with all honesty.

(another shocking off-screen death. We had quite the complicated relationship with Ethelyn in the past, but saw that she was in a good spot as an Exile who still could give good counsel)

We also learn that Shale has been sealed off by Risuri ships in reaction and that another fleet had been sent from Flint to secure Elba. With this information, we ride on quickly and come to another settlement where we see an inn called the "Golden Lion". But before we can enter the inn, we hear the familiar howling of incoming mortar shells and jump to safety. We are very much shocked to realize that the information we got via sending was a trap, as the inn is razed to the ground before our eyes by more mortar salvos. We don't understand how this could be even possible, but it appears that the Danorans somehow intercepted our sending...

(I am pretty sure that this is meant to be a cameo from the famous “Golden Lion Inn” from Goldshire, a small town in the Warcraft setting. Which in WoW is either the “duel me noob” or weird ERP area, depending on server type)

 

[RangerWickett]

I think the Golden Lion thing is your GM's addition.

I love the cat and mouse with the Voice of Rot, and I am heavily invested in your duo's relationship.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

I am impressed you are still going at this and have enjoyed catching up

 

[Lylandra]

thank you two
I now just realize that I forgot to mention the gifts we got from the Courts after having solved the Rock case. Auryn got more envoy regalia (at least that's what I called them) in form of a kimono and wings of flying inf orm of a blue feathered cape. For Carlyle, neither of us is sure, but I suppose it could be a robe of arcane heritage and a celestial armor.

 

[Lylandra]

A game of thrones

So we all agree that we don't have any time to waste and ride straight to Slate. Once we arrive at Torfield Palace, we are stopped rather gruffly by Dame Jillian, who first needs to check our identities. So we immediately understand that there must have been some breeches of security or at least a very high level of alert. We are still a bit stingy regarding the Green Knight, so we remind her of the embarrassment she faced when she was acting as "mayor" of the Nettles,and while she does remember the incident, she still continues to insist on the appropriate exchange of secret codes.

(So she is still both stingy and properly buttoned up. Oh how we missed her )

We, on our side, are glad to see her return the favor by telling us her codes of identification. After all, this is the one way we can be sure that she is not actually a doppelgänger who just wanted to get a hold on our codes....

Of course, Andrei, Riffian and the others cannot provide any code, but both Auryn and Carlyle as RHC agents are of sufficient authority to vouch for the unusual party. Jillian guides the Wild Hunt to the stables and finally leads us through the palace to the throne room.

We are a bit surprised to see that a wedding is about to take place, and it appears as though King Aodhan is trying to at least give the servants a sense of normality. Asked about the King being supposedly in a bunker, and telling her what happened in the Golden Lion Inn, Gillian explains that yes, there is a bunker underneath the royal gallery, and that King Aodhan has inspected it, but that would be far off from the contents of our message. She expresses open concern about the possibility of intercepting magical messages and leaving a false reply. Dame Gillian sighs in worry and then reveals that she doesn't like this development at all as there was also this incident this morning where the royal Skyseer took his own life, having seen no future after this very day.

(now this is really bleak...)

“Worry not, Dame Jillian. One does not simply end tomorrow, or the future in general. Especially as we seem to have arrived just in time”, Carlyle says in return.

“And even if it was fate, or prophecy, that would determine the end of times, then we will do anything to change it.”, Auryn adds, even though she cannot stop thinking about the vision of the “far future” where everything seemed to break apart and the world was overrun by fiends. Still she is determined to prevent this part of “their fate” from happening.

We then ask Dame Jillian to take us to King Aodhan to provide him with all the information on what happened in both Danor and the Dreaming. The King seems to be still be in the process of marrying his two servants in his role as “Titan of Risur”, and we see that the bride is very obviously still mourning Ethelyn. Just as the ceremony is over, and we move towards the King, the light suddenly dampens and changes to a dark purple glow.

“Watch out, the Obscurati have arrived!”, we yell as we realise that the attack must have just begun.

King Aodhan stays calm and it appears as though he is not as unprepared as we first feared. He states that he is glad we made it and briefly explains that the Danorans accuse us of killing thousands of their soldiers in Methia by toppling a tower. He then adds with a quick smirk that we seem to have a habit of appearing whenever the country is on the brink of the abyss. A trait he both appreciates and considers disturbing at the same time.

(Now a “toppling tower” has to be the most ludicrous weapon of mass destruction in history)

We have a quick laugh in disbelief about this whole “toppling a tower” story and briefly explain to him that the "tower" was actually the reforged Spire of Triegenes, which can to be credited to Kasvarina's artifact. It crumbling down once the magic wore off when we all were catapulted to the Dreaming was in no way intentional. We also report that we were stuck in the Dreaming for quite a while as all portals shut down, that we assume this phenomenon to be a side-effect of some weird Obs experiments on Axis Island, and that we are now also sending help on behalf of the Unseen Court and the Hedgehog Courts who had quite the conflict going on, which we managed to at least stall, with Auryn returning as the envoy of the Dreaming. Last but not least, we also offer our condolences for his sister.

King Aodhan seems to understand and would be much more amused about the tower accusation, would this not have been sufficient for the whole Danoran nation to declare war on Risur.

Next we tell the king about Thisraldion's dark visions of the shadows that surround the palace. In sum, the King takes the news calmly.

“So it has come to this. I see. But as you returned, and after all that you just said, I am now more certain than before about my decision. Come closer to me, Gabriel Carlyle”, Aodhan states with all of his usual gentleness, and apparently without any fear.

He then touches Carlyles forehead and seems to imbue him with some of his essence to "mark" him as his successor. Carlyle is suitably perplexed, never having expected such a position. Before he can ask Aodhan about his motives, however, we are interrupted by cannon blasts and the door to the throne room swings open wide.

(So yep, Thisraldion knew. First, Tiz told us that he was inspired to this method as “marking the successor” by Gideonpepys' King Baldrey Korrigan. Second, we had a very long debate on who should be appointed successor behind the scenes. Tiz originally wanted to have Auryn be Queen, but Carlyle's player and I agreed that while this would be a reasonable choice - her being the charismatic “people” person – she would still be a fairly new immigrated Risuri who also had very much Elfaivar in her heart and would be torn by her new role. Meanwhile, Carlyle had somehow lingering 500 years of knowledge about Risur, and especially Flint and knew more than anyone else what it meant to serve. Also, considering the fact that a royal wedding would be imminent ( we didn't know about what would happen after this), Auryn would have a far better spot as Queen consort to connect the Dreaming, Elfaivar and Risur, while Carlyle as King Consort would have little agenda of his own. So yeah, I kind of argued against my own character's coronation
And yep, the fallout would be pretty bleak for Auryn at several occasions. But more of this in later chapters.)

In comes a ghostly Catherine Romana, accompanied by several other spirits. She states that she is referring to the Rites of Rulership and - being the only Noble present on this plane - unanimously denies the King the Power of the Land, as only the King prevents her from bringing the true civilization of the Obscurati to the Risuri.

(She had been executed as a traitor in our absence... which resulted in a double facepalm from both players. Considering the obviously still intact ability of the Obs of raising fallen comrades a Ghosts, we should seriously consider suspending the death penalty)

Carlyle directly understands where this is heading and forges a telepathic link to King Aodhan.

“As you are still King of Risur on this plane, can't you just appoint the two of us as nobles to restore the balance in your favor?”, he asks.

“Already working on it. No worries.”, Aodhan replies mentally as he apparently had just the same idea in this very moment.

(Carlyle's player beat Tiz by a few seconds and we were surprised to see that the “script” had the same plan in mind. Not the last time, I promise.)

King Aodhan rolls his eyes and, almost with the voice of a pitiful father, tells Romana that she has apparently not done her homework correctly. He then elevates both Dame Auryn Galadin and Sir Gabriel Carlyle to the rank of baron before the takes away her title and her right of inheritance.

He then asks if any present nobles would have any objection to his rule, and we agree with the King's decision, smiling gleefully at the clever move.

(Can I just say that I love that guy? I have seldom seen a clever King/noble done right who both needed the party's help and was a badass in his own right)

The King then asks us to take care of Romana and her ghostly friends, before he turns to Harkover Lee. “Oh,and before I forget: Harkover, you have my permission to fight with all means necessary”

We gladly comply with the King's order, and turn to Romana while we also ask Andrei to bring the civilians to safety. Carlyle first dashes to and then disassemblies some of the spirits before looking after the also present Conglomerate, while Auryn magically reinforces the assembled allies and goes after Romana personally.

“You know what I cannot comprehend, dear Lady Catherine? That you'd call your own people “backward” and prefer to chase after these technology fanatics in blind obedience. What makes Risur strong and progressive is that it is a home for people of all backgrounds, who have completely different views. I would choose the open arms of Risur before any Obs rationality, but this is a lesson you will soon learn.”

With these words, Auryn releases a barrage of stabs at the Ghost that once was Catherine Romana.
Romana, however, is healed by the ghostly Conglomerate, which is still being pressured by Carlyle's blows. Romana in return orders the spirits to focus Auryn, which puts her in a more defensive position. She nonetheless stays close on her primary target.

Andrei, meanwhile, is busy escorting the civilians towards the bunker where he is stumbles across a young woman who is surprisingly heading the other way. He asks her if everything would be alright, but she just answers that the bunker is safe, and that she has to hurry to the throne room and help the King. Oh, and also that her name is Shealis.

(did not see this coming. For those who forgot by this point: Shealis is the elven disguise of Teraklir, who studied magic in Pardwright while we were on our mission with Kasvarina)

As Carlyle dismantles the conglomerate bit by bit and more and more “component parts”, of the amalgamation fall off, we realise that this thing consists of mainly dead Risuri. Some of these spirits merge with Carlyle after being release from the spiritual construct. Upon seeing this, Romana's expression (while still ghostly) pales even more for some reason. Auryn uses this brief distraction to out an end to her for the time being, after landing a few well-aimed blows. Carlyle and Harkover Lee in turn protect the King from the remaining spirits, the latter primarily resorting to fireballs.

When all the attackers are finally frayed, Shealis reaches the throne room and all of us (except Harkover Lee and King Aodhan) look at her in surprise.

“I know I should keep a low profile, but I've never been fond of orders. You obviously need me and I, as the daughter of Gradiax, promise to protect King Aodhan”

We welcome her into our ranks as defenders of Torfield Palace and realize that her help comes just at the right moment as the Palace is shaken heavily by several explosions from above. We express our need to take care of the shelling first, as it threatens to reduce the palace to rubble. So we take the next exit to the north to have a closer look at the situation outside the Palace, while Lee, Dame Jillian and Shealis stay with the King. As we leave, we see that Dame Jillian tries to urge Aodhan to leave the throne room and get to safety, but he stubbornly refuses, wishing to protect his citizens.

(sooo, this was part one of the attack on the Palace. Just want to leave this gem here as part of my "Zeitgeist OST/openings" musical ideas, which is just perfect from this section of the caampaign to all that comes afterward )

 

[W'rkncacnter]

King Aodhan rolls his eyes and, almost with the voice of a pitiful father, tells Romana that she has apparently not done her homework correctly. He then elevates both Dame Auryn Galadin and Sir Gabriel Carlyle to the rank of baron before the takes away her title and her right of inheritance.

wait...only baron? my copy of the last starry sky says the party all get made dukes. that's kind of odd.

As we leave, we see that Dame Jillian tries to urge Aodhan to leave the throne room and get to safety, but he stubbornly refuses to protect his citizens.

uh...did you mean "stubbornly refuses, wishing to protect his citizens"?

 

[Lylandra]

wait...only baron? my copy of the last starry sky says the party all get made dukes. that's kind of odd.

uh...did you mean "stubbornly refuses, wishing to protect his citizens"?

yep, I only realized that it was actually meant to be a promotion to duke/duchess after reading some other campaign threads. So I am not sure why our GM chose the lowest noble rank instead. Maybe he wanted to avoid an inflation in power, but using the (intended) rank of duke would have possibly avoided some of the later tensions.
And thanks for spotting the missing word! Corrected it. It was already pretty late last night

 

[Andrew Moreton]

When we got this far there was no question who got to be Queen. From the initial 4 characters 3 had he charisma of Dung Heaps and the fourth had rock star charisma, the replacement PC had decent charisma but they were farily certain they had to kill off the Voice of Rot and he would end up taking his place. Also he got his powers by channelling former kings and it did not seem to him that would make him a good king.

My players also liked Aodhan, I really wanted the king dead so it took me a lot of effort to kill him in the face of determined protection by the pc's and he then had to turn down a ressurection.
I would expect Dukes to be a bit harder to appoint as they should have extensive territories , I think I thought that there were only about 5 in Risur, Still I made them all Dukes and they created new duchies, particularly as two of them then became fey titans and their duchies were aligned with the titans domains.

 

[Lylandra]

a war for the throne

We rush through the hallways until we reach an opening that leads us to the northern park. Once we take a step outside, we see both a row of cannons protected by a mass of ghostly undead and a lantern glowing in a familiar purple hue. The lantern is guarded by more undead, a group of Danoran gunmen, and a golem. For a moment, both Auryn and Carlyle are overwhelmed by the view of the sheer amount of attackers and the brute force. But then again, we've seen what Danor was able to amass in Methia. As time is short, we risk splitting up our forces: Auryn suggests to take over the cannons while Carlyle agrees to take care of the lantern.

Auryn dons her mask of the Court to make herself invisible and get closer to to the cannoneers. From this point of advantage, she casts a sleeping spell to stop the shelling. She then starts her pallavi of Nirvana's blossoming, entering a defensive stance to fend off the undead until she summons the divine light of Srasama to paralyze the spirits. She then destroys the undead with fireballs.

Carlyle, meanwhile, focuses directly on the lantern in the garden and destroys it with a targeted disintegration spell. This brightens the area up a bit, even though he immediately attracts the attention of the guards. He then hides himself with an improved invisibility spell and attacks the golem. The riflemen, unable to locate Carlyle, then bombard the area around the golem extensively, while the golem shoots at where it believes its target to be. Carlyle escapes both attacks fleet-footed and then takes care of them one by one. By then, Auryn's column of light appears nearby, and the ghosts are caught in it. Being paralyzed as well, they are no longer a real threat and easily disposed of.

We return to the throne room to report our findings back to King Aodhan and the rest of the defenders, but realize that there must be more of these lanterns due to the still present planar shift. As the king is still well guarded, he sends us to look for the next lantern. So we activate planar sensing and get a hunch that it should be somewhere above us. At the same time, we are also being informed that Asrabey must be somewhere in the palace. We are surprised that Torfield Palace of all would be the place he'd travel to after we left him in Trekhom, but agree that he would be a more than welcome reinforcement. Carlyle tries to reach the Dreadnaught using his telepathy, but fails at first as Asrabey is simply out of range. However, Shealis suggests that she and Harkover Lee try to enhance his range of telepathy by linking up with him and thus are able to inform Asrabey of the situation and entrust him with the search for yet another lantern.

(What a surprise! We really thought he'd still be hanging around in Trekholm, probably dissing Bhalu whenever possible)

To go after the Lantern above, we climb a secret staircase to the roof of the palace. As expected,we spot the lantern placed neatly on top of the roof. To our surprise, we also see the shadow of Amielle Latimer further away on the roof, shooting at Danoran gunmen from afar. We secure the lantern quite easily, but are fired upon by Amielle, who mistakes us for more attackers. Auryn projects a quick illusion into the sky, which declares that we are RHC, not Danorans, whereupon Amielle briefly waves at us, and then concentrates her fire on the Danorans again. We are more than glad that Amielle kept her opposition against Nicodemus and agree to talk to her and possibly welcome her into our resistance once this attack has been fended off.

We switch off this lantern instead of destroying it, as having one intact example would be of great use for our engineers. Having a sudden intuition, Carlyle proposes to pour some of the essence of the Borenbog into the lantern as a test. He then activates the mechanism again, hoping to maybe get a connection to our allies in the Unseen Court, as he knows that the Palace in Clover is right at the same spot as Torfield Palace.

To our pleasure, the plan works as intended, as the lantern now projects this part of the palace into the Dreaming, straight at the Unseen Court. We also see more lanterns in the southern garden by the Titan Shrine and the Unseen Garden from our spot at roof. While we quickly rush back down,we almost collide with Karest and Laryna, who were both in a hefty verbal exchange and are surprised to see the two of us return so soon.

We consider this to be a lucky coincidence, because now we can actually show the two courts what means our enemies have at their disposal. Also, we can fall back on the striking power of not one, but two Archfey. We inform Karest and Laryna quickly on what happened and how they got here, and both are horrified by both the existence of this tech and the cowardly attack on the Waking Court. So they are easily persuaded to take care of one of the two lanterns.

We both then go to the Titan Shrine to deal with the second lantern to the south. So we set off in a sprint to get to the lantern and engage in battle with its guards. But just as swords collide, we hear something tremendous happening in the palace. We look back north, and, for a moment, see Amielle standing in front of one of the exits. She sees us and tries to shout something in our direction, but then she is suddenly engulfed in a torrent of acid. To our shock, Amielle dissolves on the spot. Fearing that whatever creature would be lingering there was able to dispose of Amielle so easily could now be in its way towards the King, we decide that Carlyle will continue to take care of the lantern on his own while Auryn would hurry back to the throne room to protect King Aodhan.

Carlyle takes on the defenders one by one and finishes them off with some lightning fast teleportation attacks. He then collects the fusiliers' grenades, forms a pile and detonates one of the grenades before also rushing towards the palace.

Meanwhile, Auryn is attacked by huge Witchoil jaguars as she enters the corridors of the palace again, but manages to get one of the beasts on her side. She convinces the rest with a spell that violence will only cause them more suffering and then promises them that someone will take care of their ongoing pain if only they'd behave peacefully.

(charm monster, serenity + speak with animals. Nothing too fancy, just a bit of clever combination)

Fortunately, the Jaguars cease to attack her. Auryn then storms into the throne room and sees a man, several ghosts and an actual undead Dragon Tyrant who are about to corner the King and his bodyguards. The man turns out to be Professor Bugge, a necromantic disciple of the Voice of Rot who had been expelled from Pardwright University years before due to his experiments. She immediately suspects that it was he who resurrected the Tyrant Venkio who had formerly been in the palace.

(“So he's basically Kel'Thuzad?” I asked Tiz in amusement. For those who don't know the guy: Kel had once been a prominent archmage in Dalaran, center of all magical studies, and he was expelled once the Council had found out that he was taking his experiments of necromancy too far. He later formed a cult, raised some undead including frostwyrm/dracoliches and eventually became the right hand of the Lich King)

This very same Tyrant is now about to spew acid at a shield held up by Shealis to protect the king. All the while, a red dragon, who she presumes to be the true form of Harkover Lee, is in melee with Venkio, biting at the undead dragon's wings. Then Auryn's eyes widen as she sees what once was Dame Jillian, who lies on the ground partially melted by acid.

Auryn immediately charges at Venkio and calls out to him, trying to challenge the Tyrant that might be still inside.

“Venkio! Here you stand, and believe that you are the biggest, meanest Tyrant of all dragonkind. And still you are so, so much smaller than Gradiax, the Steel Lord! I doubt that you come even close to him!”

As she had planned, Venkio turns his head to look upon the new challenger. But what Auryn didn't intend is the effect that her speech also spurs Teraklir. She raises her head proudly, throws aside the shield and looks fiercely at Venkio.

“You are right, that one is no match for a dragon like Gradiax. Nor his daughter. I am Teraklir, heiress of Gradiax, and I will show you what a true dragon is made of!, she roars before transforming into her dragon form.

(Didn't see that coming. Of course she didn't want the teen dragon to risk her life so directly. Still a great moment for Teraklir and her development)

Venkio meanwhile seems to acknowledge dragons more than humans and so he focuses on Harkover and Teraklir.

Carlyle arrives at the throne room a few moments later. No moment to soon as right at that moment the red dragon collapses due to his massive injuries and transforms back into Harkover Lee.

“No!” Auryn screams, and rushes to the Principal Minister's side. Fortunately, a quick examination reveals to her that Lee is merely unconscious. Carlyle all the while sees the threat that is the mad Professor and strikes down Professor Bugge with a mighty blow. He then takes care of the ghosts as he passes by them. He then asks Srasama for her healing blessing, which this time even breathes new life into Dame Jillian.

(Technically she couldn't die at that time, if we understood that correctly. And I was really glad that Harkover survived the attack. He's such a
great NPC)

This time, the dissolving spirits don't unite with Carlyle but are swallowed up by Venkio who grows in both size and mental prowess. Fearing for the safety of the king and Teraklir, Auryn again challenges Venkio about possibly not wanting to deal with "baby dragons" (sorry Tera...), which makes quite an impression on the proud dragon. When Venkio finally turns on her, Auryn defends herself against his powerful attacks and acid breath. As soon as Carlyle is able to join her, the two coordinate their attacks on Venkio and are finally able to slay the dragon once again.

(I see a pattern here with RangerWickett's adventures and animating dragon skeletons on display. Though Syana's resurrection was more impressive and painful. At least in my group. But then again, she has had so much more history...)

So all that's left to do is to switch off one last lantern, which we deal with together. As the pale light goes out, we take a deep breath as the nightmare is finally over.
“So much for fate, visions and 'no future beyond today'. Seems like we did it, Gabriel.” Auryn announces with relief.

Gabriel nods with quite the optimism. “There will always be a future for us. For all of us. And I swear that I will give everything I have to make that future into our reality.”, he promises.

“Me too. Our future is in our own hands, and no Obscurati can change anything about it.”, she says with a warm smile.

We turn to head back to the throne room. Shortly afterwards, the lantern on the roof shatters and the fey disappear again, as the lantern was apparently not intended to direct to to the Dreaming. Which is a bit unfortunate, as we wanted to specifically keep this one intact, but we surely can't have it all.

On our way, we also make sure that Andrei and the civilians are safe (nothing bad happened down there). When we return to King Aodhan, we tell to those present that the Bleak Gate nightmare has now come to an end, even though the sheer thought of the past attacks makes us all shiver. In any case, we are glad that our King has survived all of this unscathed.

Reinforcements in the form of soldiers and Lauryn Cyneburg gradually arrive and we discuss how to proceed next. The fact that Danor had planned and almost succeeded in stabbing us in the heart still remains and we are now once again in open warfare with our old enemy.

Dame Jillian (who is still recovering) informs us that she had brief contact with a surprisingly friendly ghost named Amielle Latimer,who wanted to warn us that Flint is in acute danger before she passed away. Once again, we are very worried and suspect that a Danoran fleet may be heading towards our home. Harkover Lee is clearly quicker on his feet again and thanks us for our support and care. He then takes both Carlyle and Auryn aside, and, with his familiar smirk, shakes both our hands.

“Inatch, the Hex-Eater. A pleasure to introduce myself officially.”


Harkover Lee then turns to Auryn. “And excuse me for being overly harsh to you before. It was only for the best-”

“...of Risur.”, she finishes with an understanding nod.

“Making yourself more familiar with dear Harkover, I see. Good.”, King Aodhan says as he joins our group once again. He then informs us that he had sent out a fleet to sack Elba as retaliation for the death of his sister. But to his misfortune, he had received no more news from the fleet after they had set sail. And to make matters worse, the commander of this fleet was none other than freshly promoted Admiral Dawkins. And just as he thought, this makes especially Auryn pretty anxious for the safety of her friend.

We learn from Lauryn that the railway line to Flint has been interrupted and know that there is no other safe way of communication to Flint. So the only way left would be to go there in personvia the Wild Hunt. Riffian, who we quickly call to the discussion, also agrees to take the volunteer intervention force to Flint, even though he, his riders and steeds still need a few hours rest.

So we agree to use the time to make preparations and get things settled. Auryn decides to spend some time with Harkover Lee and get more information from Lauryn Cyneburg, while Carlyle approaches King Aodhan. He asks the King to to talk privately, as he is not sure about the King's background for his decision regarding the succession. He fears himself to be the only feasible candidate at that perilous time and not who Aodhan would have chosen had he not been under duress. Aodhan reaffirms his decision, revealing that the years are beginning to wear on him and that - even apart from the looming danger - he needs a trustworthy person to lead Risur.

“I understand, your majesty. And I am honored that you see me fit to be your successor. But I... how do I put this... I don't know if I am ready for this task. How does one know if he is ready to become monarch?”

Aodhan laughs gently, being eerily reminded of the situation as a whole.


“Let me tell you a secret, dear Gabriel Carlyle: If, for one, have never felt 'ready' in my entire life. I've always wondered if I would be able to fill in the shoes my predecessor left me. But I promise you this: When you feel ready, whenever your reign may begin, should I be still alive at that point, I will always be available as an advisor if you need me. And I will only resign when you feel safe.”

He then takes a deep breath before adding: “And please, just call me Aodhan. No need for formalities. We are peers now.”

The two stroll through the Noble Gallery during the conversation. But as they pass, they are suddenly attacked without warning by a contingent of witchoil-animated undead Porteurs du Mort with mechanical dragons that seem to have been waiting only for the King to appear close by. Carlyle, recognizing the danger, uses his connection to time itself to give the time he has to King Aodhan.

“This is dire. We need Auryn. We won't survive without her. Get her and come back to me as quickly as possible”, Gabriel tells Aodhan mentally and prepares to fend off the assassins on his own.

King Aodhan takes a last look at Carlyle before he agrees to his plan and sprints through the gallery. Meanwhile, he mentally alerts Auryn who is trying to get a sending spell to Admiral Dawkins and closes the gallery behind Aodhan with a wall of ice.

Carlyle then faces the vengeful Porteurs and their golem dragons alone.


“Now we're alone, just as I planned. Just show me all you've got.”, he taunts them as moves to the wall, turning towards the attackers. Meanwhile, he tells Auryn mentally that he and Aodhan have been under attack and that the King will approach her with further orders. Aodhan reaches Auryn just in time to tell her to hurry with him to Carlyle immediately, as he needs her and there are some assassins left in the corridors of the Palace. Auryn immediately leaves all other tasks behind and follows Aodhan to the wall of ice. When she sees Gabriel fighting the Porteurs, she teleports directly behind the ice wall, leaving a stunned king behind, and comes to her partner's aid. This time she has an easy time dealing with the Porteurs, as she puts the remaining mechanical dragon under her apparent master spell and then lures the Porteurs to her with another spell. This enables Carlyle to knock them out one by one as they approach Auryn's enthralling voice blindly.

(How much you can achieve with one simple lie. Carlyle wouldn't have needed Auryn, but he rightfully suspected that the Porteurs would try to assassinate King Aodhan, so he wanted the King to be out of his way. What he did was - after he won initiative – that he'd transfer his “time” -a full round action – to Aodhan to let him escape. They then both altered Auryn, giving her the feeling of being needed while keeping Aodhan safe. And yep, this meant that Tiz didn't manage to kill off Aodhan, even if he tried really hard to make Carlyle King on the spot.)

We knock out the porteurs and ask the royal guards to take them custody and question them appropriately once they wake up later. Then we both check up on King Aodhan only to find him unscathed. The King lauds the both of us for our excellent teamwork. Auryn replies that this was no big deal for her, and that she'd do anything for both the King and his successor.

(Meanwhile Carlyle bit his tongue, obviously...)

She then returns the subject back to the missing ships that were sent to Elba. To find out what has become of the ships, we first try sending a message, but again only get an obviously intercepted reply. So Auryn and Carlyle dare try a direct contact to Admiral Dawkins via the connection to Srasama (just as they 'd done so during the time when they had to deal with Tyler and the Old Goat), while Andrei leads the civilians out of the bunker. This contact attempt also proves to be extremely difficult and at first we only encounter burning border of the threshold between the Waking and the Dreaming again. But then we get a clearer picture as we are able to locate our dear friend. There, we realize that Dawkins must be lying half unconscious on the coast of Elba amidst several shattered ships.

This sight almost breaks Auryn's heart, but she is glad to see that Dawkins miraculously managed to survive whatever had happened to them.

“Morris, can you hear me?”, she desperately ass her friend. “Wake up, please. We need you. Risur needs you. Don't go, please... wake up!”, she begs him, hoping he'd wake up and stay alive.

As she tells Gabriel about his dire state, both try to transfer all their remaining power to him. And indeed Morris seems to respond, even if he is only able to send us picture of hat has happened. He gives us the impression of an ambush by submarines and many fallen comrades.

“It was a trap, Auryn. Please, don't come here. Don't send ships. Stay safe.”, he urges us mentally, his impression being terrifyingly weak.

“Shh, don't say that. Relax, stay calm. We'll come rescue you. I promise. Just keep your strength.”, Auryn says in response, tears swelling up.

“I don't matter now, dear”, he responds. “I was ordered to attack... don't trust... the Deva... please...”, he says before the connection fades into nothingness. And we get that he means none other than Governor Stanfield.
We deliver this depressing news to the King and advise him to stop him sending barques down the river towards Flint as "the Deva" already knows about this route. Since the Wild Hunt still needs rest, we decide to also seek rest, even if it'd be for a short time, and use the remaining time individually. Carlyle in particular seems to continue to seek the King's advice and he expresses relief that Aodhan once again reinforces his decision to name him successor and that he does not have to consider him to be a "mere contingency". Auryn is equally supportive of this decision, obviously believing that Carlyle will be up to the task and that he'd be the one who knows Risur better than most.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

Damned PC's ruining a perfectly good assassination