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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 8049716" data-attributes="member: 6816692">The blade of the maidenWe walk down yet another strange corridor and reach an entrance to a room guarded by two soldiers clad in leaden sashes and jewelry. The two call themselves members of the leaden legion and we quickly put one and one together and conclude that these guys must have something to do with the golden legion - that name is just too obvious. We guess that they, too, must have had their golden items turned to lead and ask them to talk to their leader to find out more about this group.The two agree as we're just looking like promising recruits and so they introduce us to a bearded devil called Belcamp. We're surprised to find yet another devil in here, but decide to gather all the information we can get on these new rooms. Belcamp appears to be quite the cocky and self-confident one and he mentions that he is in an open feud with Giovanni and his allies which is why he could need helping hands dealing with this pest. So if we wish to join the Legion, we better gather information about Giovanni so Belcamp may take the painter's territory for himself.We're not really keen on joining the devil, but play along to gain his trust for now. Especially as we suddenly hear screams of a high and strong pitch. We ask Belcamp what's going on and where these screams might come from and the devil simply refers to an ally of Giovanni that's currently his “guest”.Being both intrigued and alarmed, we fake that we might lend him our help in interrogating said guest as we know quite a bit about this subject. Belcamp is a bit surprised that mortals like us might be interested in interrogation, but he agrees that we might see the prisoner if we prove that we're more than just words. So we show him the rust monster antennae as proof of our prowess. The devil is quite impressed as these monsters were harassing his troops before, so he allows us to enter his “prison”.Said place is nothing more than a separate area in the large hall of the Crypta. Inside, we see a couple of dretches who are trying to torture a lillend. Then, we suddenly hear ancient Eladrin songs and spot one giant sword mounted to a wall. Both Carlyle and Auryn exchange surprised gazes and they both instinctively realize that this must be one of the six blades of Srasama.To assess both lillend and sword further, we dismiss the dretches and claim that this work should better be done by professionals, so off with you. As soon as the little buggers are out of hearing range, we turn to the lillend and quietly explain that we're not here to torment her, but to help her get free. She appears to be relieved even if the dretches wouldn't be able to cause much pain and she faked the screams anyway. She introduces herself as Somnia, a friend of Giovanni.Somnia explains that she got a bit too curious while wandering around these halls, and she was caught by the Legion when she wasn't as cautious as she should have been. We promise that we'll get her free, but this would need some more play-along on her side. Our plan, we explain to her, would be to fake torturing her even more until she finally agrees to lead us to Giovanni's sanctum. We'd promise Belcamp to massacre Giovanni and his minions, but would instead lead her “home”.Somnia is grateful for our help and agrees to scream as best as she can. After making quite the impression on Belcamp this way, we tell the devil that we broke Somnia to the point that she'd lead us to Giovanni's hideout and introduce us as her friends, which will obviously lower their guard. But, we add, we're also interested in a trade: One hellish relic for a religious eladrin sword. The devil shrugs as no one can handle the oversized sword anyway, so he could care less for one fewer wall decoration. So we exchange the Blade for the ruby-clad tablet of Knütpara we found along the way.We then let the sword's song guide us back until we're both directly in front of it. Then, Carlyle feels strangely drawn towards the blade and he reaches for it with his hands. The very same moment his fingers touch the weapon, the blade shrinks, then liquefies and merges with his two kukris. Carlyle is very much surprised by this, but feels strangely renewed as the maiden aspect of Srasama calls to him for the first time.He takes a moment to get in touch with this younger voice, then turns to Auryn as if trying to apologize.“I hope you're fine with this. Me accepting one of your people's most holy relics.”Auryn shakes her head in return, carrying a disarming smile on her lips.“No need for explanations. She wants to be whole and it is her blade. Why would I ever envy my goddess?”Carlyle seems satisfied with that answer, so he accepts this new gift without further questions. We then leave the interrogation room with Somnia and plan to enter Giovanni's territory. Before we leave this place, we ask the leaden legionnaires whether they are affiliated with the demoness known as Ashima-Shimtu. To which the men reply that they do respect her on paper, but never dared to enter her domain.Session 43 - Pictures of youWe let Somnia guide us through the corridors of the Crypta to the rooms where Giovanni and his people reside. On the way there, she tells us that we should put away our weapons as they may turn against us. So we put them into our interdimensional bags, which seems to impress the lillend.Somnia leads us past a three-dimensional carpet with one deep shaft and we're quite astonished by this kind of craftsmanship. Carlyle even calls this one “really deep art”, a pun which gains him a heartfelt laugh from Somnia, Auryn and Margit.We then come to a room with one big set of armor on display. Somnia explains that this one is called the Hilde Guard and that she's guarding her room with great ferocity. She then points to several other wicked looking weapons who'd join Hilde should anyone dare to try invade the realms of Giovanni. She then utters a passphrase and we hear a deep, feminine voice welcome the lost lillend back. Only to ask about her companions the next second.“These three are friends, Hilde. They freed me from imprisonment in Belcamp's lair. Let them pass, please.” Somnia says, almost singing to Hilde. This seems to calm the armor and we may enter the realm of Giovanni freely.(Sweet naming choice. For a fan of FF9, Hilde brings up all kinds of weirs associations, as Hilda Garde is the name of three airships, named after Queen Hildagarde/Lady Hilda who transformed her husband into several creatures because he had an affair. There is also the famous Hildegard of Bingen, but she was an abbess, not a warrior. And yeah, the name basically means “war” and “protection”, so... more than fitting for a magical suit of armor)As soon as we open the door to Giovanni's place, we find ourselves in the middle of a giant party and are quite surprised that some people are actually able to celebrate in such a dark and desperate place. When the first guests notice Somnia, they flock to the lillend and welcome her back, embracing her and singing songs of joy. We dive deeper into the crowd while Somnia introduces us as her saviors and friends who managed to trick wicked Belcamp. This draws everyone's attention to us and suddenly we're bombarded with questions and invitations to what appears top be more private parties inside enchanted paintings.We politely decline the private invitations, but answer all other questions with honesty. As soon as we get the chance, we then ask about the mysterious painter, Giovanni, as we got someone with us who misses him dearly: Augunn, his cat familiar. The party-cipants tell us that Giovanni never leaves his painting, but if we're looking for him then we'll find him near the pious mount that he calls the “altar of love”. As soon as someone mentions said altar, another reveler suggests that we might just take our turn on said altar as Giovanni wishes to constantly watch at least two people having sex with one another.Needless to say that Carlyle is both baffled and distraught by the mere thought. And now that he's heard about the altar, he finally gets where these strange, muffled moans must be coming from...We agree that we should probably speak to Giovanni as soon as possible, but find that the revelers still seem to enjoy our company. So Auryn volunteers to give a spontaneous dance performance to draw the attention upon her while Carlyle uses his special skill of “party maneuvering” to get to the pious mount.He ignores the two naked bodies next to him as good as possible and finds Giovanni, one titan of an old man, inside a gigantic painting.(As disgusted as Carlyle might be by this public sex show, he's kind of used to such sights as he has served many different Vantrys Lords and Ladies over the centuries. Some of which had fetishes of all kind and who needed someone to discreetly clean up any messes. So he's also mastered the art of biting his tongue and moving on professionally.)“Move away, boy. You're blocking my view.”, the painter grumbles, before taking a closer look at Carlyle and, on a second thought, finds him just as attractive as the usual display of carnal activities.Carlyle greets the painter and immediately mentions that he's quite astonished to find that Giovanni, this legend, is still alive today. He then tells Giovanni about Somnia and our task and asks the painter why he'd never left this cursed place along with his guests as there are places of much greater beauty. Giovanni gets upset by this question and it appears that the man is somehow trapped inside his own painting. And not watching other people party hard and making love is the only joy that's left for him. But that's not too bad, he explains, as being inside the painting gives him god-like powers in his own little domain.“Yet you'll never truly feel another person's touch again if you just stay in there. All you can do is watch and imagine.”“I can do so much more than that! They didn't get me and you won't either!” Giovanni shouts all of a sudden and in a short fit of rage, he hurls a lightning bolt in front of Carlyle's foot. Which doesn't really impress Carlyle too much.“I see, I hit a nerve there. Now tell me, Giovanni, if you had the choice: won't you rather taste the sweet melons of Alais Primos with your own tongue? Smell the locks of the person you loved the other night after waking up in the morning? Feel the soft skin of the lady you're dancing with on your own? The world has become so different and exciting over the centuries and I bet you wish to experience it.”“Don't you tease me!” Giovanni replies, but he lowers his head as if to say that, yes, he would love to be outside as long as it is safe for him.A few moments later, Auryn finally manages to make her way through the crowd and reunites with Carlyle and Margit.“Sorry that it took me so long. But they wouldn't let me leave unless I promised everyone of them a 'romantic adventure' and now I got this... love-card I guess? But I made sure that you're the first one on my list, so no worries”, Auryn chuckles while pointing to the long list of names written on a sheet of paper.Carlyle and Margit quickly tell her about Giovanni, and Auryn tells the painter that he's just one of many innocents who were falsely imprisoned here by the Clergy. She then retrieves Giovanni's spellbook from her bag, opens it and releases Augunn who is really glad to see his master once again. So Auryn promises to reunite spellbook, familiar and painter once we find a way to break the seal on Giovanni's painting and Giovanni becomes even more enthralled with the idea of venturing to the outside world once again. He allows us to examine his painting to maybe find out what the clergy had done to seal him away and find that these are merely permanent wards that could be dispelled with standard magic.So we remove the seal and hand Giovanni his spellbook the moment he sets his foot outside after so many centuries. His mortal body is that of a human man, not a towering giant, but he seems to have remained a lot of his vigor. Then we discuss the matter of Belcamp since we promised the devil that we'd bring him Giovanni's head. We suggest that Giovanni might just paint a version of his head so we may fool Belcamp, but guess that this would make the devil try invade this vault.So we go for a different route: As we learned how to escape the Crypta from Enis Adolini, we'd offer Giovanni and his party people to bring them outside to the island of Odiem. This way, Belcamp could technically “invade” the artist's wing (even if he'd have to be able to get past Hilde first) while Giovanni and company would be free. Giovanni is impressed by our logic and agrees, as long as his friends are in for the plan.We also chat a bit about previous visitors and learn that both Kasvarina and Miller had been here before, but they had ignored him and his paintings. Regarding the “red haired beauty” Testamenta, he wasn't able to convince her to stay with him either, but he sensed that she must have brought something with her that changed the Crypta's magic. Something which upset “the serpent at the end of the path”So we head back to Belcamp and his leaden legion as the ritual to get Giovanni and company out involves visiting six pious mounts, including the one in the legion's room. We tell Belcamp that we didn't want to kill the famous painter, but we'd compromise on letting the legion invade the room after the party people left the place. Which would result in a win-win situation for all involved parties. Unfortunately, Belcamp insists to have Giovanni's head and the moment we tell him that he'd have to fight us to get close to the painter, the devil attacks us and orders his men to aid him.This doesn't end too well for Belcamp as we fell him in a few quick blows before we turn to his companions. Preparing for an attempt of intimidation, we try to warn the legionnaires, only to see them age rapidly and turn to ash in mere seconds as the centuries of suspended life catch up with them. Belcamp dissolves as well and all that's left of the devil is his glaive. We agree that we should  add this one to Hilde's collection as a parting gift. The enchanted armor seems to accept the glaive with great pleasure before we move on to whatever lies behind the vaults of the legion.(Giovanni and his party people surely came unexpected for our second visit of the Crypta. We found the scenery to be both grotesque and hilarious at the same time. Still none of us thought that just because he did paint some blasphemous or risky artworks in the past, he should be imprisoned for all eternity. Funny how this motif returned in adventure 12...)</blockquote>

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