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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 6258135" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 101 - BorneA cavernous chamber stretched up and out before them, assaulting their senses with dizzying dimensions, disorienting echoes, industrial chill and the taste and smell of witchoil.  Despite everything, they picked out the vast face at once, obscured as it was by catwalks, scaffolding and chains. A great golem head, sixty feet high, roughly moulded out of metal, blank of expression and inert.  The head rest on a neck, the neck upon broad shoulders - could there be a whole colossal golem descending out of view?!?From a bridge a hundred feet above them, Leone Quital’s nasal voice sneered down: “Treachery alone has seen you breach this sanctum of progress. But I can fight as dirtily as you, you dogs of the Old Order. Witness the snare in which I have placed your sanctimonious friend.  Take one more step into this chamber and I will slice him to pieces.”To their horror, poor Malthusius hovered into view – his clothes in tatters, face battered and bruised, body covered in a hundred tiny lacerations from the taut ball of razor-wire he was suspended within.  Up close, they could see a flicker of life – a spasm of pain which caused his eyes to snap open, and then widen in recognition when he saw his friends.Lavanya pressed herself close to Leon and told him to persuade his erstwhile allies to leave. Leon said that these were determined men and would not be put off so easily. Lavanya insisted he at least try, and Leon did as he was told, shouting down to the others that they should turn back, and not risk Malthusius’ life.  So now two of their missing friends were in this chamber!Before Korrigan or any one of the others could respond to Quital or to Leon, Malthusius gave a beatific smile and closed his eyes. Then his very form, his light blue flesh began to glow and dissipate as if rendered into motes and puffed away on a light breeze.  Without saying a word, he had chosen to end this incarnation, rather than cause his friends to come to harm. They prepared to avenge his sacrifice. Quital saw what was happening and sprang his trap, but the razor-wire passed harmlessly through Malthusius’ form, which remained suspended in the air while it gradually dissolved.“How very tiresome,” said Quital. “Very well: Conquo, if you please...”With that, Quital hurled the construct into the fray, curled up into a tight ball. Korrigan yelled out a warning and got Grappa out of the way in the nick of time, just before Conquo ploughed into the unit like a boulder, and sent Korrigan, Uru, Rumdoom and Matunaaga careening backwards.  Then Conquo unfurled to loom threateningly over them.  “I’m terribly sorry about this,” he said.  “But orders are orders.”  This was turning out to be quite the reunion.Everyone attacked Conquo; Conquo put Rumdoom in a headlock and punched him repeatedly.  Quital dropped a maelstrom of shrapnel right on top of them, and Korrigan yelled for everyone to get out.  They obeyed his order at once, except for Rumdoom, who was held by Conquo in the centre of the metallic storm.  Grappa punched at his keyboard frantically.  “GET ME...” was all he managed to say at first.  (“...out of here”?  “... a drink”?)Up on the elevator platform closest to the VIP suites, several Ob slayers and a nethermancer rushed to the edge and readied for a fight:  Asrabey Varal had broken away from the fight with Conquo and now streaked towards the elevator with a purpose; heedless of the terrifying drop - a huge pit in which the full 300-foot-tall golem did indeed stand - he threw himself off the staging area, grabbed hold of one of the support columns and began to clamber up towards them effortlessly.“This eladrin warrior is incredibly dangerous,” Leon said to Lavanya.  “Let me out of these mage-cuffs and I’ll stop him.”  To Leon’s surprise Lavanya acquiesced and freed him from his bonds, whereupon Leon found that he was unable to help himself carrying out his own suggestion: He joined the Ob defenders on the edge of the platform and hurled an eldritch blast down at Asrabey, who – as per usual – just kept on coming. “...UP THERE!” Grappa continued, and set off running jerkily across the battlefield as soon as Quital’s first maelstrom had dissipated.  Uru, Matunaaga, Rumdoom and Kvarti rained fire down on Conquo, who proved to be just as tough as they remembered. Lavanya then showed her mettle too, and made a psychic attack on Matunaaga who, beset by terrifying memories, stumbled away from the fight.  Quital began to hurl huge metal rods down at the intruders who quailed under the barrage.  One metal rod might have killed Korrigan, had he not manifested the power of Jiese, and absorbed the energy of the attack.All of a sudden, Conquo began to stumble around as if swatting away bees.  Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod, the little ghost children who accompanied Uru (and were visible and audible to him, here in the Bleak Gate) whispered urgently that ‘a vengeful spirit is trying to possess the metal monster’.  If he looked closely, Uru could see a ghostly female form: Xambria, freed from her prison in Malthusius’ mind, trying to find a new host and aid the unit into the bargain.  Korrigan told everyone to stop attacking Conquo, but Rumdoom broke free and continued to focus on Conquo, heedless of orders.  Xambria tried again and failed to breach Conquo’s mental defences.  Korrigan urged her on, unsure if she could heed his words, but she took heart and redoubled her efforts and her faint, ghostly form melted into the construct, who collapsed onto his knees.By now Asrabey was just a few feet below the elevator platform when he teleported behind Leon and the Ob defenders.  But instead of attacking them as the unit had hoped he darted through the door into the VIP suites, pursued by a pair of slayers. ("Never gets his hands dirty, does he?" growled Rumdoom. "Unless he's fighting us.") Two more slayers moved to head off Uru who, down in the staging area, was heading for the opposite lift.Free from concerning himself with Conquo, Korrigan touched the canary pendant around his neck, then he flew through the air towards the bridge, picking Grappa up along the way.  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered.   Matunaaga and Kvarti provided covering fire but their attacks bounced off the metal shield Quital was wielding.  Quital ripped their weapons out of their hands, and caused more manipulated metal to pin them painfully in place.  Lavanya assailed Korrigan psychically, causing him to veer away from the bridge, but he got control of himself just in time.Uru tinkered with some wires and summoned the far lift, now occupied by the two slayers; it was too slow, so he tinkered again and sped it up.  Conquo stood up and said, “It’s me - it’s Xambria.  I think I’ve got the hang of this thing. What shall I do?!?”  But no-one was in a position to give advice right now...Korrigan and Grappa landed on the bridge.  From here they could see that the great golem was covered in intricate runes. Grappa reached out and touched the colossal face, the cloak of his hood falling away as he did so.  Quital turned and in a flash of realisation cried, “Grappa? No! It isn’t possible! Get away from him!” He yanked Grappa’s arm off, but his protests were lost over the terrible engine roar that now filled the chamber as the golem suddenly came to life.“Poppa!” it groaned, in the overwhelming bass profundo of a thousand church organs.  Its voice alone staggered everyone in the chamber.Grappa stumbled towards Quital.  In anger, and for the second time, Quital waved his hand and rendered the bronze golem into innumerable tiny fragments.  All of a sudden, he clutched at his own face and gave a horrible, inaudible scream, as if afflicted from within.Conquo/Xambria freed Kvarti and Matunnaga from Quital's metal bonds and the pair ran to retrieve their rifles.  Just then the lift arrived at the staging area, and Uru shot both slayers with his shuriken crossbow before leaping aboard and enveloping himself in a cloud of darkness.  Matunaaga jumped on board the lift too and took out one of the slayers. He was closely followed by Conquo.  At that moment, Ob guards and shadow trolls from the canal arrived to support their masters.  Left behind and in no position to run, Kvarti took aim and prepared to fire before they fell upon him, but Conquo leaped back off the platform, tucked the wriggling dwarf under his arm and jumped back onto the lift just as Uru caused it to rise, with bullets from the guards ricocheting around them. Uru took out the second slayer as the lift neared the bridge.While Quital stumbled, his whirling metal shield clattered to the ground.  Kvarti and Matunaaga took advantage of the opening and fired at him.  For the first time since RHC regulations had forced him to wear it, Korrigan drew his snub-nosed pistol and with a snarl of derision, shot at Quital as well.  So much for progress!Forgetting the peril all around her, Lavanya gave a cry of “Borne! Borne, no!” and threw herself off the bridge, casting a spell that enable her to scuttle up the golems brow onto its vast pate, where she crouched, apparently trying to commune with the thing.  Borne took a halting step forward and crashed into the bridge.  It buckled and strained and everyone on it fell to their knees.  Finding its path blocked, Borne reached up and dug its enormous fingers into the cavern ceiling.Leon shrugged off Lavanya’s influence and, seeing Ob defenders all around him, sent a magical wave of cold blasting out that knocked a slayer, a nethermancer and the deranged Quital off the bridge, where they disappeared, writhing and wriggling, into the gloom. Then he shouted over the noise of the golem and tried to encourage Lavanya to surrender.The last surviving slayer stepped close to Korrigan, grabbed him and teleported to the edge of the bridge dangling Korrigan in midair. He let go and Korrigan fell.  The unit cried out in unison, but as he fell, Korrigan reached out his sturdy stone arm and caught hold of one of the massive chains that depended from the bridge. Moments later, he was scrambling back upwards, hand over hand.  Astonished, the slayer fled towards the VIP suites.Huge chunks of rock and metal tumbled from above as Borne tried to punch his way out of the cavern. Ignoring Leon’s imprecations that she be spared, the rest of the unit braved the rock-fall and opened fire on Lavanya, who still clung to the golem’s scalp and clearly sought to control it. Though some of the group could not bring themselves to fire on such a beautiful creature, neither Rumdoom nor Uru had any problem at all.  But Lavanya was tougher than she looked and was still clinging to the golem as it wrenched itself upward into the hole it had created, causing enormous sections of rock to slowly peel away from the ceiling and fall towards the bridge.Uru hid in the bridge control room, while the others dashed for cover in the VIP suites. Korrigan reached the bridge and pulled himself over.  He was in a bad way and couldn’t make it to safety in time.  But Conquo/Xambria grabbed him and Matunaaga as he dashed past, and got them out of the worst of the cave-in, shielding them from harm as rocks bounced of his armour plating.  Down below, many of the guards were crushed and the rest retreated back towards the entrance.As Leon reached the lounge area, a screaming, burning slayer staggered in from the opposite door, setting light to the fixtures and fittings.  He was followed by Asrabey - his blazing sword in one hand, the other leading a beautiful eladrin noblewoman who could only be Kasvarina.  Her face was vacant and confused. Scampering alongside them came half-a-dozen gremlins, who had previously disappeared into the utility system. They were cackling and cavorting and celebrating their rescue of Gale.  She looked bewildered at first but soon regained her composure when she saw the unit.  Neither party saw fit to exchange recriminations or apologies at this stage.  Gale looked relieved and pleased to see them, and Asrabey spared them a curt nod.For a moment everyone experienced a wave of nausea. A strange ripple in the ether and the sudden disappearance of the shadow trolls told them something very strange had happened.  Borne (and, presumably, Lavanya) were now halfway up the huge natural chimney that lay beyond the ceiling.  Wards and runes on metal plates that had lined the walls had been shattered, and when Borne finally dragged itself free up above, they could see stars – real world stars – in the inky sky beyond.  They were out of the Bleak Gate.While they gawped in wonder they heard the strange backward-yawn noise of a Dreaming portal, and they turned to see that Asrabey and Kasvarina were gone, leaving only swirls of mist in their wake.There was a lull.  No more noise or shaking.  Having reached the surface, the colossal golem had stopped moving.  Its great feet were still.“Shall we get out of here?” asked Gale and without waiting for acquiescence, she raised her arms and summoned winds to carry everyone up the chimney and out.  They spiralled away from the crown of the hill for a moment and saw Borne gazing out over the city of Flint.  It wasn’t clear from this distance where Lavanya had got to.“What shall we do?” Gale asked over the noise of the wind.“Let me down, if you please,” said Kvarti. “The end of the world is upon us. I’m going to go and drink.”</blockquote>

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