gideonpepys
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Session 227, Part Two - Through a Glass, Darkly
Through a Glass, Darkly
Here in the Bleak Gate, Cauldron Hill had not been eroded. An incongruous fire now blazed on one side of its saddle-like peak; on the other they could see three figures.
Not wishing to alarm Rock and his friends by teleporting unexpectedly, they took the gith’s stone discs down to meet him, and left the Coaltongue circling at a safe distance, with Rumdoom and Uriel staying on board to defend the ship if needs be.
Rock waved both arms furiously, as if they were passing by happenstance and might otherwise have missed him. He was wearing an oversized, floor-length bearskin coat to fend of the cold of the Bleak Gate, and was stood inside a circle of blood to fend off evil spirits, but most of those had been attracted to the bonfire. Rock greeted them enthusiastically and introduced them to his ‘ghost-chick’.
To their surprise, it was Lavanya, who give a helpless shrug as if to dissociate herself from Rock. With her, also introduced by Rock was “this old dude, who’s beginning to cramp my style”. Another surprise – it was Alexander Grappa, visible now for the first time, here in the gloom of the Gate. (Though not in spirit form, in his case, but a psychic projection, like Xambria).
Multiple conversations broke out at once, with Lavanya talking to Leon, Rock sharing his plans with Korrigan and Quratulain, while Uru and Gupta talked to Grappa.
Grappa was as bemused as they were. “We’ve been here a long time,” he said. “Since Mutravir. Waiting for you.”
Lavanya explained that infiltrating the convocation had been her last act on Lanjyr, and it was a mistake. She had gone in to warn them, and to rescue Grappa, but hadn’t fully ensured her escape. “My aide proved unreliable. My body is still in Trekhom,” she said.
That reminded Leon of the strange sensation he had had the last few times he went there – a sudden impulse that told him Lavanya was close. “You should have told me,” he said. “I could have helped you.”
“That always causes a problem,” Lavanya explained. “If I tell you, and you try to help me, you fall into the Ob’s trap. They’ve already found me and are waiting for you. But soon I think they’ll get tired of waiting and wake me up. So I don’t know how long I’ve got. We need to get Alexander to the plane of time.”
“Don’t ask me why,” said Grappa with a shrug.
“This is all she talks about,” said Rock, breaking off from his conversation with Korrigan. “Soon as we get down here, she’s all chilly – all business. This is worse than that time I dated an ooze druid.” He shuddered. “Never again. Maybe you heard the song I wrote about it? It’s called ‘Oozie Lover’?”
Now they all shrugged. It wasn’t one if his biggest hits.
“The only trouble is, I can’t leave this place,” said Grappa. “Not without a host. I’m not a ghost, you see.”
Uru nominated Uriel. “He’s used to it. There’s someone else in there already. But don’t mention her, or things will get frosty.”
“Ghost chicks, am I right?” exclaimed Rackus, rolling his eyes.
Keen to get going, and having already filled Korrigan in on his plan, Rock now summoned his own ship, using a snippet of old sea shanty he had picked up from Uru. At once, the tune was echoed by a distant baritone chorus, and the Ghost Pirates of Mutravir appeared. Uru gave a cheer. This was cause enough for another swig from his hip flask!
Rock jumped on board and said he would guide them to the crack in the Dreaming. Rumdoom decided to fly on the ghost ship with Rock, to bolster their defences. (Amielle and Bhalu went with.) Lavanya and Grappa returned with the others to the Coaltongue.
They followed the ghost ship for a long time. Rock had already reassured them that they would arrive in the nick of time. “Everything in the Dreaming happens when it’s most melodramatic!”
While they went, they caught up with Grappa and Lavanya. As always, Lavanya was forced to be cagey, for fear that anything she told them could alter the future. “Although I’m pretty certain this is the last thing I’ll do.” She squeezed Leon’s hand when she said this and flashed him a smile.
There were many spirits flitting about in the Bleak Gate.
“The way the afterlife used to work was that the souls of the recently departed would briefly appear in the Bleak Gate, then travel on to Nem, the plane of ruin,” Lavanya explained. “From there, they’d move on to some other realm whenever a line from the real world through Nem pointed at the appropriate destination in the multiverse. Those who had particularly traumatic deaths might linger in the Bleak Gate until they either went mad or were able to find rest in some way.
“Now, though, Av (and, therefore, the Bleak Gate) no longer orbits the real world. So the souls of those who die linger, invisible, in the real world, and they lurch toward places like Cauldron Hill that were once closely linked to the Bleak Gate. Those souls are then drawn into the Bleak Gate whenever Av (and the Gyre) is overhead, but there is nowhere for them to go to because the world is too far from the rest of the multiverse. Instead of going on to a final reward or punishment, the souls just crowd around the Bleak Gate analogue of Flint.
“When Av reaches the Gyre and shatters, tens of thousands of souls of those who died since the Ob’s ritual will be scattered across the planar motes in the Gyre. If there’s any unfinished business you have with someone who has died recently, or anyone you think may have lingered, it might be possible for you to draw them to you, and take them away from the Gyre.”
This sent many of the unit into deep thought.
Uru wondered if it might be possible to rescue one of their old allies. His first thought was Krazy Krauss, but Krauss’ death had caused his lifeforce to be drawn into the golem heart that went on to power Conquo. So that wouldn’t work. He focused next on El Perro and, sure enough, the young warrior had lingered in the Bleak Gate all this time, so violent and sudden was his death. His spirit was faint, barely self-aware, but grateful to be drawn into the warming throng of Uru’s many ghostly inhabitants.
“All of my loved ones are trapped in the colossus,” said Gupta. Then she remembered something of the story of how Jenny Greenteeth had possessed Helandra, and asked Lavanya what she meant when she said Helandra was the “first of many hosts”. Lavanya said that Kasvarina did not create a body for her, as Greenteeth was form from all of the bitter, twisted parts of Kasvarina that had led her to follow Nicodemus so ruthlessly. “I am all of her good aspects, and act purely out of love. Greenteeth is pure spite. She has no form of her own, but possesses others, discarding her hosts when she sees fit. My fear is that, having escaped through the same portal Kasvarina created, she may have begun her journey not in a faraway place, but in a faraway time. If she abandoned Helandra back then it is possible she may have died in the meantime.”
Gupta focused as Uru had done, and was rewarded with similar success. Helandra’s spirit came to her, though similarly faint and feeble, and unable to say what had happened to her since her encounter with the evil hag.
Finally, it was Korrigan’s turn. The Ash Wolf had told him he would find his ideal mate on the dark side of the moon. Now he was beginning to understand what they meant. Without bothering Kai, for fear it might upset him, he called upon Elizabeth, his late wife. Her spirit was also still here, unhappy to have left her son before she even met him. Faint, too, but of all the three, the most aware. She responded faintly, like someone half-delirious from a sick bed, and gladly accepted his offer to flee.
Rock and the ghost pirates guided them to an immense fissure near what would be the capital city Slate in the real world. With a bit of careful manoeuvring the both vessels piloted through what appeared to be a ten-mile deep canyon of black glass, where reflective shards span in freefall. Rivulets of black fluid seeped between the cracks, and that oil positively glistened with souls trapped within it. (Uru was tempted to fly out on Little Jack and fill up his hip flask.)
At the ‘bottom’ of the canyon they needed to flip their vessels again, as down became up once more. This was an easy matter for the ghost ship; having done it once before, Admiral Smith was also able to carefully flip the Coaltongue.
Having done so, they rose up amid a burning forest – the Chessboard Forest near the fey capital city Clover.
Overhead they could see the Gyre looming stupendously close. The two cog-shaped nebulae spanned the sky from horizon to horizon: it was clear that they were mere hours from being ground by the immense teeth. Jagged fragments of other worlds floated overhead like shattered moons.
While they took in this spectacle, their arrival was noted by a patrol of the Golden Legion of Egal the Shimmering. Five huge, winged demons dove under the cover of the burning canopy and flew towards them, but they were spotted by the ever-observant Uru. Forewarned, the ghost ship vanished, while the occupants of the Coaltongue were quickly forearmed.
Thinking they had the element of surprise, the demons stayed low until they were right under the Coaltongue. Then they ascended at speed – too fast to take out with the Tyrant’s Eye – and loomed impressively over the main deck: a pit fiend and four horned devils.
Hoping to cow them with their mere appearance, the pit fiend, Brhan Kinoro, flared with fire and bellowed, “Hubristic mortals! Think you can ply these skies? They belong to the Golden Legion! All wealth is ours! Those who oppose us shall be enslaved. Show loyalty, however, and we shall share our limitless wealth with you. Loyalty is prosperity! Prosperity is freedom!”
He was understandably surprised when the unit opened fire.
End of Session
Soundtrack (NSFW):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sxZ4tsp8gc
Through a Glass, Darkly
Here in the Bleak Gate, Cauldron Hill had not been eroded. An incongruous fire now blazed on one side of its saddle-like peak; on the other they could see three figures.
Not wishing to alarm Rock and his friends by teleporting unexpectedly, they took the gith’s stone discs down to meet him, and left the Coaltongue circling at a safe distance, with Rumdoom and Uriel staying on board to defend the ship if needs be.
Rock waved both arms furiously, as if they were passing by happenstance and might otherwise have missed him. He was wearing an oversized, floor-length bearskin coat to fend of the cold of the Bleak Gate, and was stood inside a circle of blood to fend off evil spirits, but most of those had been attracted to the bonfire. Rock greeted them enthusiastically and introduced them to his ‘ghost-chick’.
To their surprise, it was Lavanya, who give a helpless shrug as if to dissociate herself from Rock. With her, also introduced by Rock was “this old dude, who’s beginning to cramp my style”. Another surprise – it was Alexander Grappa, visible now for the first time, here in the gloom of the Gate. (Though not in spirit form, in his case, but a psychic projection, like Xambria).
Multiple conversations broke out at once, with Lavanya talking to Leon, Rock sharing his plans with Korrigan and Quratulain, while Uru and Gupta talked to Grappa.
Grappa was as bemused as they were. “We’ve been here a long time,” he said. “Since Mutravir. Waiting for you.”
Lavanya explained that infiltrating the convocation had been her last act on Lanjyr, and it was a mistake. She had gone in to warn them, and to rescue Grappa, but hadn’t fully ensured her escape. “My aide proved unreliable. My body is still in Trekhom,” she said.
That reminded Leon of the strange sensation he had had the last few times he went there – a sudden impulse that told him Lavanya was close. “You should have told me,” he said. “I could have helped you.”
“That always causes a problem,” Lavanya explained. “If I tell you, and you try to help me, you fall into the Ob’s trap. They’ve already found me and are waiting for you. But soon I think they’ll get tired of waiting and wake me up. So I don’t know how long I’ve got. We need to get Alexander to the plane of time.”
“Don’t ask me why,” said Grappa with a shrug.
“This is all she talks about,” said Rock, breaking off from his conversation with Korrigan. “Soon as we get down here, she’s all chilly – all business. This is worse than that time I dated an ooze druid.” He shuddered. “Never again. Maybe you heard the song I wrote about it? It’s called ‘Oozie Lover’?”
Now they all shrugged. It wasn’t one if his biggest hits.
“The only trouble is, I can’t leave this place,” said Grappa. “Not without a host. I’m not a ghost, you see.”
Uru nominated Uriel. “He’s used to it. There’s someone else in there already. But don’t mention her, or things will get frosty.”
“Ghost chicks, am I right?” exclaimed Rackus, rolling his eyes.
Keen to get going, and having already filled Korrigan in on his plan, Rock now summoned his own ship, using a snippet of old sea shanty he had picked up from Uru. At once, the tune was echoed by a distant baritone chorus, and the Ghost Pirates of Mutravir appeared. Uru gave a cheer. This was cause enough for another swig from his hip flask!
Rock jumped on board and said he would guide them to the crack in the Dreaming. Rumdoom decided to fly on the ghost ship with Rock, to bolster their defences. (Amielle and Bhalu went with.) Lavanya and Grappa returned with the others to the Coaltongue.
They followed the ghost ship for a long time. Rock had already reassured them that they would arrive in the nick of time. “Everything in the Dreaming happens when it’s most melodramatic!”
While they went, they caught up with Grappa and Lavanya. As always, Lavanya was forced to be cagey, for fear that anything she told them could alter the future. “Although I’m pretty certain this is the last thing I’ll do.” She squeezed Leon’s hand when she said this and flashed him a smile.
There were many spirits flitting about in the Bleak Gate.
“The way the afterlife used to work was that the souls of the recently departed would briefly appear in the Bleak Gate, then travel on to Nem, the plane of ruin,” Lavanya explained. “From there, they’d move on to some other realm whenever a line from the real world through Nem pointed at the appropriate destination in the multiverse. Those who had particularly traumatic deaths might linger in the Bleak Gate until they either went mad or were able to find rest in some way.
“Now, though, Av (and, therefore, the Bleak Gate) no longer orbits the real world. So the souls of those who die linger, invisible, in the real world, and they lurch toward places like Cauldron Hill that were once closely linked to the Bleak Gate. Those souls are then drawn into the Bleak Gate whenever Av (and the Gyre) is overhead, but there is nowhere for them to go to because the world is too far from the rest of the multiverse. Instead of going on to a final reward or punishment, the souls just crowd around the Bleak Gate analogue of Flint.
“When Av reaches the Gyre and shatters, tens of thousands of souls of those who died since the Ob’s ritual will be scattered across the planar motes in the Gyre. If there’s any unfinished business you have with someone who has died recently, or anyone you think may have lingered, it might be possible for you to draw them to you, and take them away from the Gyre.”
This sent many of the unit into deep thought.
Uru wondered if it might be possible to rescue one of their old allies. His first thought was Krazy Krauss, but Krauss’ death had caused his lifeforce to be drawn into the golem heart that went on to power Conquo. So that wouldn’t work. He focused next on El Perro and, sure enough, the young warrior had lingered in the Bleak Gate all this time, so violent and sudden was his death. His spirit was faint, barely self-aware, but grateful to be drawn into the warming throng of Uru’s many ghostly inhabitants.
“All of my loved ones are trapped in the colossus,” said Gupta. Then she remembered something of the story of how Jenny Greenteeth had possessed Helandra, and asked Lavanya what she meant when she said Helandra was the “first of many hosts”. Lavanya said that Kasvarina did not create a body for her, as Greenteeth was form from all of the bitter, twisted parts of Kasvarina that had led her to follow Nicodemus so ruthlessly. “I am all of her good aspects, and act purely out of love. Greenteeth is pure spite. She has no form of her own, but possesses others, discarding her hosts when she sees fit. My fear is that, having escaped through the same portal Kasvarina created, she may have begun her journey not in a faraway place, but in a faraway time. If she abandoned Helandra back then it is possible she may have died in the meantime.”
Gupta focused as Uru had done, and was rewarded with similar success. Helandra’s spirit came to her, though similarly faint and feeble, and unable to say what had happened to her since her encounter with the evil hag.
Finally, it was Korrigan’s turn. The Ash Wolf had told him he would find his ideal mate on the dark side of the moon. Now he was beginning to understand what they meant. Without bothering Kai, for fear it might upset him, he called upon Elizabeth, his late wife. Her spirit was also still here, unhappy to have left her son before she even met him. Faint, too, but of all the three, the most aware. She responded faintly, like someone half-delirious from a sick bed, and gladly accepted his offer to flee.
Rock and the ghost pirates guided them to an immense fissure near what would be the capital city Slate in the real world. With a bit of careful manoeuvring the both vessels piloted through what appeared to be a ten-mile deep canyon of black glass, where reflective shards span in freefall. Rivulets of black fluid seeped between the cracks, and that oil positively glistened with souls trapped within it. (Uru was tempted to fly out on Little Jack and fill up his hip flask.)
At the ‘bottom’ of the canyon they needed to flip their vessels again, as down became up once more. This was an easy matter for the ghost ship; having done it once before, Admiral Smith was also able to carefully flip the Coaltongue.
Having done so, they rose up amid a burning forest – the Chessboard Forest near the fey capital city Clover.
Overhead they could see the Gyre looming stupendously close. The two cog-shaped nebulae spanned the sky from horizon to horizon: it was clear that they were mere hours from being ground by the immense teeth. Jagged fragments of other worlds floated overhead like shattered moons.
While they took in this spectacle, their arrival was noted by a patrol of the Golden Legion of Egal the Shimmering. Five huge, winged demons dove under the cover of the burning canopy and flew towards them, but they were spotted by the ever-observant Uru. Forewarned, the ghost ship vanished, while the occupants of the Coaltongue were quickly forearmed.
Thinking they had the element of surprise, the demons stayed low until they were right under the Coaltongue. Then they ascended at speed – too fast to take out with the Tyrant’s Eye – and loomed impressively over the main deck: a pit fiend and four horned devils.
Hoping to cow them with their mere appearance, the pit fiend, Brhan Kinoro, flared with fire and bellowed, “Hubristic mortals! Think you can ply these skies? They belong to the Golden Legion! All wealth is ours! Those who oppose us shall be enslaved. Show loyalty, however, and we shall share our limitless wealth with you. Loyalty is prosperity! Prosperity is freedom!”
He was understandably surprised when the unit opened fire.
End of Session
Soundtrack (NSFW):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sxZ4tsp8gc
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