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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 8551655" data-attributes="member: 6816692">Return to the Lady of the Forked Tongue  The Avery Coast Railroad brings us safely to Sid Minos where we all go straight to the pier where we last left for Odiem. A few gold coins buy us a small ship that will bring us to the haunted island, but from the talk of the sailors we get the clue that we're not the first ones who sailed to Odiem. All in all we conclude that there might have been two different groups of people who landed there before.We thank the crew for the safe passage and then cautiously search for more traces and signs that could reveal the identities of the two groups. We're surprised to find hints on a previous combat with quite the number of people and conclude that the two groups would have most likely ended up fighting each other. This of course raises our alert level even more and we agree to proceed under the veil of an invisibility spell.After a short while, we spot a couple of tents that are guarded by a dwarf lady and her guards wearing the insignia of the Clergy. As their camp is really close to the entrance of the Crypta, we also see that the door is currently warded off by a force field.To not draw too much attention and get some information without conflict, we opt to also look like fellow faithful of the Clergy via hats of disguise and ask Kasvarina to stay behind so she'd not draw attention. We then withdraw a few steps, turn visible and hail the dwarf. She doesn't seem to be too happy to see us and introduces herself as Secula of the Inquisition and shows us her insignia. We ask her what a Secula would be doing here, to which she replies that, by decree of the Hierarchs, she is to guard this island as there have been multiple incidences with foreign intruders in the past.She then asks us what would bring us to Odiem as she surely didn't expect any reinforcements so soon. We explain that we've been sent by our higher-ups to retrieve devilish artifacts in a safe and secure manner.While we're talking to her, we get the gut feeling that this good lady isn't being honest with us, so Carlyle uses a truesight power to see whether she'd be hiding something from her fellow colleagues. It comes as quite the surprise to see that this woman is in fact Grandis Komanov, leader of the very same sect of “World's End” Eschatologists who tried to blow off Sharon Baker Station almost a year ago. Which also means that Grandis managed to overpower the Clergyfolk who were sent here to secure the island.We don't want to start hostilities just yet, so we tell her that we did not come here to fight battles for the Clergy. Now Grandis is intrigued and tells us that her divinations revealed that three very interesting people would come to Odiem today. Even though she wonders why there would be just the two of us. We stick to our story of wanting to retrieve the artifacts and Grandis offers to help us with our task in a pretty demanding way.After a quick mental exchange, Auryn and Gabriel agree that bringing a possibly crazy but clever terrorist leader to Ashima-Shimtu and a vision of Kasvarina's past wouldn't be the wisest of ideas. On top of that, we should also seize the opportunity to arrest the culprit behind the attack during our peace conference. So we politely refuse the offer and call for her surrender.Komanov reacts just as we'd expected: With a sudden attack. She summons black ice to turn us into living icy statues. Fortunately, we are too quick for her and manage to overpower her before she can even launch the icy bolts. Unfortunately though, this Grandis turns out to be a mere Simulacrum which shatters as soon as we'd knock her out. We then turn to her “guards” or rather disciples, knock them out and put them in the absurdist web for later delivery to Chief Inspector Delft.(Really didn't expect to have that thread be picked up again here. Regarding taking Komanov's goons with us: We just thought it would earn us a few bonus points and rid the world of a couple potentially dangerous terrorists if we'd bring them to the RHC for further questioning)We then return to Kasvarina and tell her that it would be safe to use the Crown now. She promptly places the Arc on her head and walks toward the warded entrance. The island shifts quite extremely and leaves us in a much more pleasant and inviting version of Odiem.Kasvarina shifts into her younger self, wearing prisoner's clothes. Miller appears by her side and both of them are dragged to the Crypta where they are being locked off. We slip through the now not-warded entrance alongside the two and see Miller talking about the doomed place from which no one has returned yet. The don't give up though and so start making their way through the enchanted corridors.We accompany them and see how they first meet Linia and try to free her. Gabriel tells Auryn that this was just what he had seen in his previous vision and that he is still glad that Srasama let him release the angel from her torment. During their tries, we see Miller getting more and more desperate and infuriated, even if he isn't too surprised to see that the corruption of the Clergy made them turn against the noblest of beings.They finally agree that they cannot help Linia and have to try save themselves. On their way, they then come across the chained Architect, but also cannot help him. All in all the pair manages to traverse the Crypta quite well. They walk past the cursed paladins and finally come to the door leading to Ashima-Shimtu's room. The door is locked and they open it by sacrificing a drop of their blood.Again we see Ashima-Shimtu chained to the ceiling, but this time her mouth is sealed by yet another hook. After assassing the situation for a while, Kasvarina climbs up to the demoness and removes the hook so they may talk to her. To our surprise, Ashima-Shimtu thanks Kasvarina for her kind deed.She then asks the pair how they'd end up in such a godsforsaken place as they don't look like other demons or cursed souls. So Kasvarina and Miller explain their whole situation to Ashima-Shimtu: That they had been betrayed and only wanted to secure a chance for peace. And that they are enemies of the corrupt Clergy who apparently wants them to rot down here.Ashima-Shimtu laughs when she hears these words and tells the two that her story is of a similar betrayal. She talks about not wanting to be a pawn for the Demonocracy and working together with Triegenes to bring the empire to its fall. She speaks fondly of Triegenes, but then says that she had been imprisoned down here by these thankless humans shortly after his death. But Triegenes, dear Triegenes had been clever enough to not give his corrupt brothers the means, the tool that she had given him so long ago: The Ritual of Apotheosis, the power to become a god. And she didn't want to give it to them either. Which would also be one of the reasons why they'd imprison her here.But she, Ashima-Shimtu, aptly ignored them. Instead, she had centuries of thinking about the nature of good and evil. And whether she'd want to distance herself from evil despite being a demon, just like Triegenes had suggested.She then looks at Kasvarina and Miller with a fiendish smile as she offers them a plan that could give them all want they truly wanted: She'd teach them the Ritual of Apotheosis. Which the two could in return trade in for their freedom. Then, she guesses, the power-hungry Clergy would use the ritual to create some war-deity to defeat the Eladrin. But, she adds, the Ritual has one major flaw: If someone knew the true name of the God, then this God would become vulnerable. And by killing the God of War, one could kill war itself.(Such is the power of the True Name. It is known.)Ashima-Shimtu then teaches the two the Ritual and we make sure to memorize it as well. The vision ends and the current Ashima-Shimtu appears in front of our eyes to greet us one more time. We ignore her first as we are still very much shocked by this revelation. Besides the fact that having this knowledge is indeed very scary as we'd basically have the secret to create a god, we also now know how Triegenes managed to ascend and probably how Srasama ended up being on the battlefield. Even though this was totally not what Kasvarina and Miller had planned.Kasvarina looks at us in confusion and apologized that she doesn't know how the summoning of Srasama would have happened as this was clearly not what she had intended in this moment. We also point out that Miller and therefore Nicodemus does know the ritual as well and that we should be ready should he try use it another time.Then we turn to Ashima-Shimtu and ask her whether she'd be willing to share some more information with us, now that we know what might be her biggest secret. The demoness grins at us and says she told us we'd return and that we cannot outrun fate. But also that she is willing to share information in return for information. We agree to this trade and offer her knowledge about her nasty blind spot (due to their wards and Geases): The Obscurati.Ashima-Shimtu is indeed interested and so we first ask her about the Demonocracy and her role in their empire as we'd seen that she betrayed them and joined Triegenes. The demoness explains that she was no disciple or true member of the demonocracy, but rather a seer that happened to be born a demon. The demons and devils found her talents to be useful, so they used her for their own gain. And she didn't like that. During the early days, she adds, it was easily possible for planar creatures to come to our world and they did so in great numbers. Most of them didn't care too much for the local inhabitants, but they used our “plane” to fight in their planar conflicts. Some of them though found the natives to be useful, which is why they enslaved them. But then everything changed when the Ancients found a method to limit planar travel by forging a seal that set the current planar configuration in stone.This lines up nicely with what we've learned during the Obscon, so we ask her to continue. Ashima-Shimtu then tells us that this seal caused the demons and devils to become trapped in our world which led to the reorganization into the demonocracy we know from our textbooks.We also ask her about the plane of air and what could have happened to it, but she returns that we'll soon find out ourselves.Our next topic is Srasama and the Malice. We sternly ask her whether anything in her teaching of the ritual would have been flawed or rigged to summon the wrong god. But Ashima-Shimtu insists that she had no hand in the catastrophe and that she did want to usher in the downfalls of the Clergy. Also, she has no deal with Nicodemus, even if she is intrigued by that man.“So he did tell the truth after all...” Carlyle mumbles.She concludes that she has been very much neutral so far, even if she doesn't know yet whether she wants to abandon her true nature as an evil entity.“This decision is purely up to you. A matter of free will. No one forces you to be good or evil.”, Auryn says. “And from what I know, most people ignore these extremes altogether and simply strive for happiness without hurting others in the process.”When hearing these words, Ashima-Shimtu looks her straight in the eyes, turning her own to tiny slits.“You speak of free will while Triegenes is getting more and more hold on yours. Soon his ideas will be your own. You already sound very familiar, dear...”Auryn closes her eyes and place her hand on the Humble Hook hidden beneath her robes.“You cannot taunt me, Ashima-Shimtu. Triegenes' relic is merely a guide for me, like the voice of a dear friend who tries to bring out the best of me. And if all you've said about Triegenes is true, then I respect him even more than I did before.”(She would have totally gotten Auryn worried like crazy just a year before... that part of her self-consciousness has surely grown)Gabriel then has a more personal question himself, as he asks the demoness about her opinion on the source of Miller's rebirth as Nicodemus and whether that would be akin to a Deva reincarnation. She doesn't know for sure, but can tell him that it was caused by the death of Srasama, just like his new life as a Deva. She also casually mentions that this nature would make it quite impossible for her to see him, unlike Kasvarina who is easily visible for her due to having been offered a drop of her blood.Auryn then asks about her connection to Kasvarina as they share many characteristics. Ashima-Shimtu claims that a part of Kasvarina died during the Malice as well and that this part was obviously reincarnated in Auryn.(not that this was any less cryptic. I now know what she might have meant with that statement)She then tries to gain more information about the prophecized End of the World, to which Ashima-Shimtu says that the Serpent wants to devour the world and is looking for proxies. Which is why it chose us and wanted to infuse us with its essence. We reply that while this is true, the essence of the Voice of Rot only gave us a bit of power but couldn't get a hold on our souls as they were already “claimed by another”. All in all this sounds a bit far-fetched, but concrete enough to not cause too much stress right now.Then it is our turn to tell her all we know about the Obscurati, including their plan to alter the planar configuration. We closely watch Ashima-Shimtu's reaction and find that she doesn't appear to be too interested in having planar travel options back. After our exchange, she appears to be satisfied and offers us to leave through her basin again. After all, she remarks with a smirk, we will see each other soon enough as we are still destined to free her.Auryn rolls her eyes at this cockiness and tells the demoness straight up that she'd honestly considered freeing her after she had told them about her time with Triegenes and her mental challenges. But now she came to the conclusion that Ashima-Shimtu should just spend more time thinking about the “nature of evil” a bit more as she believes in change in exchange for change.We bid her farewell and use the basin to get to “a place close to Cherage”. We end up in a small village where we gather a few clothes from the local populace at night to dress more discreetly and go searching for the hidden memory.</blockquote>

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