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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7095046" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 10 (133) - Gradiax & Grappa</strong></p><p></p><p>Once Brakken and Glaucia confirm that they have met with Zarkava and she is not a duplicant, the RNS Impossible heads for waters just off the coast of the sleepy Beran fishing town of Nerja. Longboats take everyone ashore, including the Bruse, who is now well enough to be moved (though the surgeons are perplexed by the terrible wounds to his face). With their ruler duly restored, but incapable of leadership, Zarkava has called upon Cavallo de Guerra, who is heading South with his fleet already. There is an impromptu council of war to which all parties are invited. The situations as it stands is as follows:</p><p></p><p>In addition to the strike on the Bruse, more extensive operations took place in Seobriga, Reo Pedrosco and Renza. Golems, duplicants and mechanical soldiers all took part. Key areas and government installations were captured, key personnel taken hostage. Minister for Advancement Khaled Valchek has declared martial law in Seobriga, and appears to have led the incursion there. It is likely that the capture of Seobriga might have been complete, were it not for a surprise intervention: Shortly after the first shots were fired, two galleons, crewed by gnolls and (it now transpires) loaded with mechanised reinforcements, docked at wharfs owned and controlled by Black Star Mining. These ships were immediately sunk by a barrage of fire from Black Star Mining mercenary vessels captained by the erstwhile ‘Dread Pirate Roberta’ – a privateer who now presents herself at the meeting. ‘She’ is none other than a female alter ego of the Risuri spy known to the unit as Saladoor and Don Zacuto, keeping an eye on Valchek for the Risuri and subverting his treacherous orders at the last minute. So large parts of Seobriga have remained free – defended by police, militiamen, and crowds of armed citizens in the name of the Panoply and the Beran revolution. But Valchek still holds the central citadel and surrounding areas, and Zarkava fears that substantial loss of life will result from attempts to recapture them. The mechanised uprisings in Reo Pedrosco and Renza were smaller and appear to be preparatory in nature: The newly build rail enclaves have been captured, and are now being defended by repurposed construction golems.</p><p></p><p>Korrigan doubts if Valchek is the brains behind all this. He concedes that the dwarf is a greedy opportunist, but points out he is not an inventor or technologist. Korrigan raises the name of Benedict Pemberton, and it is confirmed that constructs of his design were involved in the coup – including a couple of giant dockside constructs (used for loading ships) that stomped across Flint in a clear attempt to emulate the shock and awe of Borne’s rampage across Flint. Korrigan has Leon contact Harkover Lee.</p><p></p><p>At this point, Lya Jierre announces that Tinker Oddcog is located on an island to the far South of Ber. Zarkava says that divinations have confirmed this, and that Kenna Vigilante and other kidnapped soldiers are to be found there too. Glaucia snarls and says that this is Isla Dola Focas, stronghold of the Cult of the Steel Lord, a tribe of gnolls ‘still hankering after the rule of their dragon tyrant masters’. These were the same gnolls who manned the ships sunk in Seobriga harbour; the very same tribe Glaucia has sworn vengeance against; the tribe of Pardo, Minister for Rebellion. When Uru explains that Pardo’s duplicant was clearly bespoke, unlike the others, it is agreed that the Minister for Rebellion was directly involved, not usurped or kidnapped like Vigilante. (“Jobsworth,” says Rush Munchausen.) </p><p></p><p>Later, a floor-to-ceiling image of Harkover Lee’s face appears before Korrigan. He reveals that Benedict Pemberton is the human form of a dragon tyrant named Gradiax the Lord of Steel, once the ruler of much of Southern Ber, including the recalcitrant gnolls of the cult that still bears his name. Korrigan was satisfied that his dislike and distrust of the ruthless industrialist had been justified all along. (Pemberton’s support of strike-busting factory owners had earned his initial enmity; then Pemberton leant his substantial weight to the fleet of Black Star Mining and eventually withdrew funding from the RHC, following a keynote speech in Ber in which he confirmed his total opposition to everything Korrigan stood for.) Harkover Lee gave Korrigan orders to oppose Gradiax’s plans, if they proved to run counter to the conditions of the original treaty that allowed him and other dragon tyrants to live as long as they remained in human form, and did not seek to gain direct power over ‘lesser’ creatures. </p><p></p><p>Another sending informs the unit to expect the arrival of the Clockwork King. At the appointed time they gather by the teleportation circle, and a lone figure appears: a finely crafted construct, almost as intricate as the bronze golem made by Tinker Oddcog, though this one has a painted porcelain face, with rosy cheeks and a real, bushy black moustache made from horse hair. It wears a stove-pipe hat, a long red coat, tan waistcoat and black breeches. Bowing low, it introduces itself as the Clockwork Count and explains that it has taken advice from Uru’s friends the ‘Nice Spiders’. (The Fey Spiders were unhappy about the fear they caused in everyone they met, as they ranged throughout the sewers and tunnels beneath Flint, in the service of the The Trash Heap, so they asked Uru to spread their new name in a song about how friendly and kind they were. This was picked up by the children of the Nettles and now they aren’t universally loathed.) The Spiders advised the Clockwork King that his name sounded too lofty, and might constitute a challenge to the real king. “I didn’t choose it in the first place,” he says, “It was bestowed upon me by my people.” By ‘my people’ he refers to the dispossessed, the remade, and the wererats who lived in the Undercity. The Count is here, he says, to offer his services to Risur in return for the recognition of the people he leads, “who have a terrible time of it, living underground”. He knows that the unit is once again on Tinker’s tail and reminds them (for the third time of asking) of their pledge to give him the Godmind Urn in return for his earlier assistance. Korrigan asks what he wants it for. The Count says he wants only to get it away from Oddcog, whose mind is too weak to resist it. However, now appraised of the situation in Seobriga, he hopes to be able to use it to help the Berans retake their city. They make a cautious agreement with him and offer to let him study the duplicants they have captured. Uru talks with him for most of the rest of the day.</p><p></p><p>Korrigan suddenly remembers what Tinker said to them about Grappa’s letter. Xambria volunteers to search through the bundle of correspondence handed to them by Delft at their reunion. (He had opened it all and read it, he said and it was mainly fan mail and requests for help that other officers had dealt with.) But within the pile Xambria finds an unopened letter with a thick wax seal. She finds herself unable to open it and, before she knew it, she was handing the letter to Korrigan, having acted under a strange compulsion. Korrigan had no trouble opening the letter. It was, indeed, from Grappa and it read:</p><p></p><p><em>"To the constables who helped reassemble me the last time I died,</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"Greetings. I hope this letter finds you well, and that you remember me, Alexander Grappa, known colloquially as “the mindmaker.” Now it seems a mind is all I am. I keep finding myself in unfortunate circumstances, but I haven’t been put down for good quite yet.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"If you’ll indulge me a bit of storytelling, I believe my situation will be of interest to you. And again I apologize for certain necessary vagaries, as it appears a geas placed upon me is still functioning. Fortuitously, though, the wording of said compulsion only prohibits me from speaking of my own affairs with my former associates—I find I can still not bring myself to write the organization’s name, though I am sure you know it by now.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"When last we met, my mechanical body was torn to bits. While dying I managed to detach my consciousness and implant it into the body of my killer. He survived and escaped, and some time later I realized that while he was asleep, my mind came awake. I was able to, with careful effort and great caution, move his body and examine my surroundings, but my coordination is poor, and I dare not step outside hisbedroom. I hear guards mumbling in Drakran outside the door of his windowless chamber, and I can’t risk their suspicions being aroused. I can, however, read his correspondence. It would appear that he plans to return to his old haunt in Flint; a risky undertaking motivated by his desire to reclaim something of great value to him: the schematics to create a second golem in the event that poor Borne cannot be brought to heel. My host will make the journey in the final week of Winter and spend just three days in Flint. With careful planning, a trap might be laid for him. Though do remember, he is extremely dangerous.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"I very much hope that you will see the value in keeping him alive, a hope born not only of a selfish desire to survive, but in the certainty that we will find a way to turn this reversal against our mutual enemies.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"I will slip this letter into a pile of his outgoing mail, and hope that he will not notice. I have placed an enchantment upon it, such that it can only be opened or read by Marshal Korrigan, or certain members of his team, and all intermediaries will feel compelled to further its progress. I can only pray that it arrives in time.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"- Alexander Grappa</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"PS. Bring mage cuffs and make sure they are not made of metal."</em></p><p></p><p>Oh well…</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7095046, member: 79141"] [b]Session 10 (133) - Gradiax & Grappa[/b] Once Brakken and Glaucia confirm that they have met with Zarkava and she is not a duplicant, the RNS Impossible heads for waters just off the coast of the sleepy Beran fishing town of Nerja. Longboats take everyone ashore, including the Bruse, who is now well enough to be moved (though the surgeons are perplexed by the terrible wounds to his face). With their ruler duly restored, but incapable of leadership, Zarkava has called upon Cavallo de Guerra, who is heading South with his fleet already. There is an impromptu council of war to which all parties are invited. The situations as it stands is as follows: In addition to the strike on the Bruse, more extensive operations took place in Seobriga, Reo Pedrosco and Renza. Golems, duplicants and mechanical soldiers all took part. Key areas and government installations were captured, key personnel taken hostage. Minister for Advancement Khaled Valchek has declared martial law in Seobriga, and appears to have led the incursion there. It is likely that the capture of Seobriga might have been complete, were it not for a surprise intervention: Shortly after the first shots were fired, two galleons, crewed by gnolls and (it now transpires) loaded with mechanised reinforcements, docked at wharfs owned and controlled by Black Star Mining. These ships were immediately sunk by a barrage of fire from Black Star Mining mercenary vessels captained by the erstwhile ‘Dread Pirate Roberta’ – a privateer who now presents herself at the meeting. ‘She’ is none other than a female alter ego of the Risuri spy known to the unit as Saladoor and Don Zacuto, keeping an eye on Valchek for the Risuri and subverting his treacherous orders at the last minute. So large parts of Seobriga have remained free – defended by police, militiamen, and crowds of armed citizens in the name of the Panoply and the Beran revolution. But Valchek still holds the central citadel and surrounding areas, and Zarkava fears that substantial loss of life will result from attempts to recapture them. The mechanised uprisings in Reo Pedrosco and Renza were smaller and appear to be preparatory in nature: The newly build rail enclaves have been captured, and are now being defended by repurposed construction golems. Korrigan doubts if Valchek is the brains behind all this. He concedes that the dwarf is a greedy opportunist, but points out he is not an inventor or technologist. Korrigan raises the name of Benedict Pemberton, and it is confirmed that constructs of his design were involved in the coup – including a couple of giant dockside constructs (used for loading ships) that stomped across Flint in a clear attempt to emulate the shock and awe of Borne’s rampage across Flint. Korrigan has Leon contact Harkover Lee. At this point, Lya Jierre announces that Tinker Oddcog is located on an island to the far South of Ber. Zarkava says that divinations have confirmed this, and that Kenna Vigilante and other kidnapped soldiers are to be found there too. Glaucia snarls and says that this is Isla Dola Focas, stronghold of the Cult of the Steel Lord, a tribe of gnolls ‘still hankering after the rule of their dragon tyrant masters’. These were the same gnolls who manned the ships sunk in Seobriga harbour; the very same tribe Glaucia has sworn vengeance against; the tribe of Pardo, Minister for Rebellion. When Uru explains that Pardo’s duplicant was clearly bespoke, unlike the others, it is agreed that the Minister for Rebellion was directly involved, not usurped or kidnapped like Vigilante. (“Jobsworth,” says Rush Munchausen.) Later, a floor-to-ceiling image of Harkover Lee’s face appears before Korrigan. He reveals that Benedict Pemberton is the human form of a dragon tyrant named Gradiax the Lord of Steel, once the ruler of much of Southern Ber, including the recalcitrant gnolls of the cult that still bears his name. Korrigan was satisfied that his dislike and distrust of the ruthless industrialist had been justified all along. (Pemberton’s support of strike-busting factory owners had earned his initial enmity; then Pemberton leant his substantial weight to the fleet of Black Star Mining and eventually withdrew funding from the RHC, following a keynote speech in Ber in which he confirmed his total opposition to everything Korrigan stood for.) Harkover Lee gave Korrigan orders to oppose Gradiax’s plans, if they proved to run counter to the conditions of the original treaty that allowed him and other dragon tyrants to live as long as they remained in human form, and did not seek to gain direct power over ‘lesser’ creatures. Another sending informs the unit to expect the arrival of the Clockwork King. At the appointed time they gather by the teleportation circle, and a lone figure appears: a finely crafted construct, almost as intricate as the bronze golem made by Tinker Oddcog, though this one has a painted porcelain face, with rosy cheeks and a real, bushy black moustache made from horse hair. It wears a stove-pipe hat, a long red coat, tan waistcoat and black breeches. Bowing low, it introduces itself as the Clockwork Count and explains that it has taken advice from Uru’s friends the ‘Nice Spiders’. (The Fey Spiders were unhappy about the fear they caused in everyone they met, as they ranged throughout the sewers and tunnels beneath Flint, in the service of the The Trash Heap, so they asked Uru to spread their new name in a song about how friendly and kind they were. This was picked up by the children of the Nettles and now they aren’t universally loathed.) The Spiders advised the Clockwork King that his name sounded too lofty, and might constitute a challenge to the real king. “I didn’t choose it in the first place,” he says, “It was bestowed upon me by my people.” By ‘my people’ he refers to the dispossessed, the remade, and the wererats who lived in the Undercity. The Count is here, he says, to offer his services to Risur in return for the recognition of the people he leads, “who have a terrible time of it, living underground”. He knows that the unit is once again on Tinker’s tail and reminds them (for the third time of asking) of their pledge to give him the Godmind Urn in return for his earlier assistance. Korrigan asks what he wants it for. The Count says he wants only to get it away from Oddcog, whose mind is too weak to resist it. However, now appraised of the situation in Seobriga, he hopes to be able to use it to help the Berans retake their city. They make a cautious agreement with him and offer to let him study the duplicants they have captured. Uru talks with him for most of the rest of the day. Korrigan suddenly remembers what Tinker said to them about Grappa’s letter. Xambria volunteers to search through the bundle of correspondence handed to them by Delft at their reunion. (He had opened it all and read it, he said and it was mainly fan mail and requests for help that other officers had dealt with.) But within the pile Xambria finds an unopened letter with a thick wax seal. She finds herself unable to open it and, before she knew it, she was handing the letter to Korrigan, having acted under a strange compulsion. Korrigan had no trouble opening the letter. It was, indeed, from Grappa and it read: [I]"To the constables who helped reassemble me the last time I died, "Greetings. I hope this letter finds you well, and that you remember me, Alexander Grappa, known colloquially as “the mindmaker.” Now it seems a mind is all I am. I keep finding myself in unfortunate circumstances, but I haven’t been put down for good quite yet. "If you’ll indulge me a bit of storytelling, I believe my situation will be of interest to you. And again I apologize for certain necessary vagaries, as it appears a geas placed upon me is still functioning. Fortuitously, though, the wording of said compulsion only prohibits me from speaking of my own affairs with my former associates—I find I can still not bring myself to write the organization’s name, though I am sure you know it by now. "When last we met, my mechanical body was torn to bits. While dying I managed to detach my consciousness and implant it into the body of my killer. He survived and escaped, and some time later I realized that while he was asleep, my mind came awake. I was able to, with careful effort and great caution, move his body and examine my surroundings, but my coordination is poor, and I dare not step outside hisbedroom. I hear guards mumbling in Drakran outside the door of his windowless chamber, and I can’t risk their suspicions being aroused. I can, however, read his correspondence. It would appear that he plans to return to his old haunt in Flint; a risky undertaking motivated by his desire to reclaim something of great value to him: the schematics to create a second golem in the event that poor Borne cannot be brought to heel. My host will make the journey in the final week of Winter and spend just three days in Flint. With careful planning, a trap might be laid for him. Though do remember, he is extremely dangerous. "I very much hope that you will see the value in keeping him alive, a hope born not only of a selfish desire to survive, but in the certainty that we will find a way to turn this reversal against our mutual enemies. "I will slip this letter into a pile of his outgoing mail, and hope that he will not notice. I have placed an enchantment upon it, such that it can only be opened or read by Marshal Korrigan, or certain members of his team, and all intermediaries will feel compelled to further its progress. I can only pray that it arrives in time. "- Alexander Grappa "PS. Bring mage cuffs and make sure they are not made of metal."[/I] Oh well… [/QUOTE]
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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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