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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7345718" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 42</strong></p><p></p><p>While they tended Uriel, and as he slowly began to return to himself, Serafima Savelli talked with Rumdoom’s retinue, who came to him urgently with some information she had shared with them: that the demoness in the heart of this vault was said to have been responsible for the Great Malice. Rumdoom shrugged. He’d heard worse. “Did we already know that?” he asked Gupta. She shook her head. “Not that specifically, no.” Serafima also took the opportunity to talk with Rumdoom and ask him about the cause for his ‘deep sadness’, but Rumdoom did not feel like sharing with this stranger, however well-intentioned she might be. He told her something of his personal philosophy, by way of an explanation. Serafima told him she didn’t fully understand eschatology; that it seemed to her to be all about death. Rumdoom said, “This is Rumschatology”. </p><p></p><p>Once Uriel was back on his feet, they established where their teammates were and set off to join them. They arrived in the vault of Afflicted Innocents, just after the rest of the unit finished dealing with Linia:</p><p></p><p>Korrigan had learned the name and past history of the burning man: he was Ennio Adolini, the architect of the vault. After he completed it, the clergy accused him of being possessed by a demon, put him on trial and sentenced him to be placed here, to contain creature within him. A thousand years of torment made it difficult for him to talk, but his mind was still intact. Adolini warned them not to try to free him. Quratulain announced that he was indeed possessed and that the clergy had put the demon there themselves. (Uriel and Uru debated the morality – or lack thereof – demonstrated by the clergy thus far; Uru was reluctant to view them negatively, having decided – in his bizarre fey way – that they were the team he supported; Uriel had come to abandon all faith in them – but not necessarily in Triegenes.) </p><p></p><p>Korrigan gained Adolini’s trust by showing him the Humble Hook. He promised that they would expose what the clergy had done here. Adolini asked them to perform a ritual atop the Pious Mount, by cupping water from the font below, placing their other hand on the mosaic here and drinking the water. Korrigan did so and was blessed. Adolini then told them a chant to protect them from the skeletal servants in the vault (which had already sprung up and attacked Leon when he was wounded by his own weapons). He also explained the nature of the leaden curse that would transmute all gold to lead, and then cause them to be teleported into the vault of Beasts if they tried to leave. Only gold could prevent that. (Uriel wondered if he could create some.) He also explained that they could escape by swimming from the final vault, although the tunnel was 500 feet long and enchanted to dispel shape-shifting and water-breathing magic.</p><p></p><p>They thanked him, and Leon used the Wayfarer’s Lantern to relieve his suffering for a few minutes. When it became clear that their conversation was over, another growling voice spoke from Adolini and told them it would serve them for a time if released. It promised to ‘carve a path to the exit’. They declined and it cursed them as they left.</p><p></p><p>In the main chamber of the vault, Korrigan decided to deal with a pressing matter before they went on. Finding that the Humble Hook told him nothing about Serafima, he questioned her about her arrival on the island, using Throgmorton’s testimony that the place had been inhabited. She said there had been signs of conflict when she came. Quratulain then declared that Serafima was not clergy, despite her trappings. Serafima flannelled for a while longer, then came clean: she was in fact a demonologist from Trekhom who just wanted to study Ashima-Shimtu, and begged them not to abandon her in the vault. While other members of the unit began to discuss the merits of this, Korrigan said simply, “You’re lying”.</p><p></p><p>At that, she reached into the folds of her robe, and withdrew a bloody ice crystal, saying (in a voice Rumdoom found horribly familiar), “O glacier of blood, sate your hunger!” Matunaaga shot her and punched her before she could do anything else, but that caused her to drop the crystal which shattered and filled the vault with a swirling ice storm. From within, she gloated about how she had almost fooled them a second time, and Rumdoom realised that this was Grandis Kamanov! Uru braved the snow storm it and shot her again, whereupon her form shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. Leon confirmed that this was nothing more than a simulacrum – which was why no mind-reading spells had worked. Sadly, the real Grandis remained at large.</p><p></p><p>As they left the vault of Afflicted Innocents, Kasvarina spoke with Korrigan and said that while she usually had little time for the melodramatic heroism of mortals, his actions in the vault, and over the course of time, had caused her to come to respect him very highly and she was glad that she had thrown her lot in with them all those weeks ago. Korrigan said, “As we have journeyed through your memories I have come to know you better and understand your motivations. I don’t judge you for your past. It is clear that Nicodemus has always been manipulating you. I believe that you must by now have realised that and can say ‘no’ to that past and are now a better person than you were. We’ll do this together. We’ll beat the Ob together.” Kasvarina said that she very much hoped so. Uriel took this opportunity to thank Kasvarina for enabling him to rediscover his own past and Kasvarina responded graciously that his trials and tribulations had made her own easier to bear. Later, though, she confided in Leon that she had begun to dread the revelations that remained, and doubted her ability to hold herself together. Leon did his best to reassure her that her past was not her future, regardless of what they discovered further on.</p><p></p><p>On their way out of the vault – forewarned by Adolini that traps awaited any who had conversed with him or Linia – Ururanged ahead, crawling along the ceiling and scanning the floor very carefully. Progress was slow. It was sheer good fortune that he managed to throw himself clear of the huge pillar embedded in the ceiling that crashed down into the passage below. Once he was aware of the mode of the trap, he was able to easily see where the other pillars were and guide the others back to the vault of Accursed Items (where he also found a magical egg in the remains of the rust monster they killed).</p><p></p><p>All of the traps in the next long passageway had been disabled or deactivated long ago, but since then someone had placed obvious and easily avoided fraises of bone and metal spears – narrow enough to deter anything larger than human size (such as huge rust monsters?) from making their way down this passage. At length they came to a T-junction, where another passageway headed north towards the final vault. Ahead, the iron doors to the Vault of Damned Souls were guarded by a pallid group of ‘warriors’ who wore leaden chains like bandoliers. One went inside to report their arrival; the others tried to look intimidating. Throgmorton said this was the group who had captured Orum Dwist, and that Dwist felt sure the Bloodstone Ape lay in this direction. Suddenly, a memory event transpired, drawing Kasvarina and Quratulain into combat with another group of leaden legionnaires, of whom they made very short work. They were led by a bearded devil who fled. Then they headed north. The door guards shifted uneasily as the memory event dissipated.</p><p></p><p>Korrigan shrugged off the mantle of Nicodemus, and said to Kasvarina, “I think there is something else we need to do before we continue.” Kasvarina acquiesced and Korrigan told the guards to stand aside. They did so, nervously. Another of their number came to say that ‘Belcamp desired to speak with these newcomers’ and so they made their way through the vault, gathering legionnaires as they went, until they came to the Pious Mount and Keystone Exhibit, by which time they were surrounded by more than thirty of them. Some were obviously captured tomb-robbers, as their clothes were relatively modern; some appeared to be ancient in origin, while still others were demonic even before they had been chained. Two of this latter group tormented Somnia, the lillend, who had been lashed to a ten-foot flaming sword atop the Pious Mount. Gupta and Kasvarina were both amazed to see that this was one of Srasma’s blades.</p><p></p><p>Ahead, on a throne formed by his own subjects, watching dretches clown for his amusement, sat Belcamp, a bearded demon (the very one from the memory event) whose own chains were made of gold. There followed a cursory negotiation in which Korrigan demanded the release of certain prisoners, and access to the vault beyond. Belcamp refused, unless the group secure a magical rod for him. It could be found in the chamber with the rust monsters; with it he would defeat his ancient foe, Giovanni. While the idea of pitting these two rival groups against one another very much appealed to Korrigan, it became obvious that the rest of the unit were in no mood to parley with these creatures and were impatient for a fight. (Throgmorton spotted Orum Dwistamong the legionnaires; Quratulain analysed the situation and felt certain that recent recruits could be ‘salvaged’.)</p><p></p><p>Fed up of talk, Uru revealed his position on the ceiling when he unleashed the ghostly entourage who threw open the iron doors behind Belcamp’s throne. Korrigan strode forward and a fight ensued. Uru took the form of Giovanni (albeit smaller and standing on the ceiling), taunted Belcamp and then vanished, only to reappear when Uriel caught the devil in a pillar of radiance, killing him with a single shot. Quratulain and Matunaaga mowed down legionnaires in huge numbers, and Rumdoom unleashed an enormous ice storm that hurt his allies as well as their foes, but cut down the weak legionnaires in swathes. The fight was over in a matter of seconds. Matunaaga stunned Orum Dwist and they worked to free him. (It was too late to help the clergy acolyte who was captured alongside him; Quratulain had killed him, accidentally or otherwise.)</p><p></p><p>Dwist was extremely grateful, and keen to continue his search for the Bloodstone Ape: Belcamp had said that the annis hag Gorago and her band had negotiated with him for passage (there had been a few goblins added to his legion as a result) but they had not returned from the vault of Beasts of the Infernal Horde. Somnia the lillend, a beautiful, fascinating creature – breathtaking and alarming in equal measure – was also very grateful to be free and said she would come with them until the opportunity arose for her to use her song on their behalf. It would send the inhabitants of the vault into a deep sleep. Leon offered her the chance of freedom, but the strange creature refused and said she would prefer to return to Giovanni once her debt had been paid. “I’ve seen the outside world, thank you. An eternal party is far better.” </p><p></p><p>So they travelled down the next passageway, handily avoiding yet another trap, thanks to Leon’s mastery of teleportation magic. (This trap would have seen its victims teleported elsewhere in the complex.) Having braced themselves, they threw open the great iron doors at the far end and were greeted by a horrifying sight: a flayed giant, without feet, crawled its thunderous and bloody way towards them, accompanied by the baying of burning hellhounds. </p><p></p><p>Thank heavens for the lullaby of Somnia, which caused all of these creatures to slow, lower themselves gently to the floor and fall soundly asleep. This effect would only last a few minutes, she said, so they needed to make haste!</p><p></p><p><strong>End of Session</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7345718, member: 79141"] [b]Session 42[/b] While they tended Uriel, and as he slowly began to return to himself, Serafima Savelli talked with Rumdoom’s retinue, who came to him urgently with some information she had shared with them: that the demoness in the heart of this vault was said to have been responsible for the Great Malice. Rumdoom shrugged. He’d heard worse. “Did we already know that?” he asked Gupta. She shook her head. “Not that specifically, no.” Serafima also took the opportunity to talk with Rumdoom and ask him about the cause for his ‘deep sadness’, but Rumdoom did not feel like sharing with this stranger, however well-intentioned she might be. He told her something of his personal philosophy, by way of an explanation. Serafima told him she didn’t fully understand eschatology; that it seemed to her to be all about death. Rumdoom said, “This is Rumschatology”. Once Uriel was back on his feet, they established where their teammates were and set off to join them. They arrived in the vault of Afflicted Innocents, just after the rest of the unit finished dealing with Linia: Korrigan had learned the name and past history of the burning man: he was Ennio Adolini, the architect of the vault. After he completed it, the clergy accused him of being possessed by a demon, put him on trial and sentenced him to be placed here, to contain creature within him. A thousand years of torment made it difficult for him to talk, but his mind was still intact. Adolini warned them not to try to free him. Quratulain announced that he was indeed possessed and that the clergy had put the demon there themselves. (Uriel and Uru debated the morality – or lack thereof – demonstrated by the clergy thus far; Uru was reluctant to view them negatively, having decided – in his bizarre fey way – that they were the team he supported; Uriel had come to abandon all faith in them – but not necessarily in Triegenes.) Korrigan gained Adolini’s trust by showing him the Humble Hook. He promised that they would expose what the clergy had done here. Adolini asked them to perform a ritual atop the Pious Mount, by cupping water from the font below, placing their other hand on the mosaic here and drinking the water. Korrigan did so and was blessed. Adolini then told them a chant to protect them from the skeletal servants in the vault (which had already sprung up and attacked Leon when he was wounded by his own weapons). He also explained the nature of the leaden curse that would transmute all gold to lead, and then cause them to be teleported into the vault of Beasts if they tried to leave. Only gold could prevent that. (Uriel wondered if he could create some.) He also explained that they could escape by swimming from the final vault, although the tunnel was 500 feet long and enchanted to dispel shape-shifting and water-breathing magic. They thanked him, and Leon used the Wayfarer’s Lantern to relieve his suffering for a few minutes. When it became clear that their conversation was over, another growling voice spoke from Adolini and told them it would serve them for a time if released. It promised to ‘carve a path to the exit’. They declined and it cursed them as they left. In the main chamber of the vault, Korrigan decided to deal with a pressing matter before they went on. Finding that the Humble Hook told him nothing about Serafima, he questioned her about her arrival on the island, using Throgmorton’s testimony that the place had been inhabited. She said there had been signs of conflict when she came. Quratulain then declared that Serafima was not clergy, despite her trappings. Serafima flannelled for a while longer, then came clean: she was in fact a demonologist from Trekhom who just wanted to study Ashima-Shimtu, and begged them not to abandon her in the vault. While other members of the unit began to discuss the merits of this, Korrigan said simply, “You’re lying”. At that, she reached into the folds of her robe, and withdrew a bloody ice crystal, saying (in a voice Rumdoom found horribly familiar), “O glacier of blood, sate your hunger!” Matunaaga shot her and punched her before she could do anything else, but that caused her to drop the crystal which shattered and filled the vault with a swirling ice storm. From within, she gloated about how she had almost fooled them a second time, and Rumdoom realised that this was Grandis Kamanov! Uru braved the snow storm it and shot her again, whereupon her form shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. Leon confirmed that this was nothing more than a simulacrum – which was why no mind-reading spells had worked. Sadly, the real Grandis remained at large. As they left the vault of Afflicted Innocents, Kasvarina spoke with Korrigan and said that while she usually had little time for the melodramatic heroism of mortals, his actions in the vault, and over the course of time, had caused her to come to respect him very highly and she was glad that she had thrown her lot in with them all those weeks ago. Korrigan said, “As we have journeyed through your memories I have come to know you better and understand your motivations. I don’t judge you for your past. It is clear that Nicodemus has always been manipulating you. I believe that you must by now have realised that and can say ‘no’ to that past and are now a better person than you were. We’ll do this together. We’ll beat the Ob together.” Kasvarina said that she very much hoped so. Uriel took this opportunity to thank Kasvarina for enabling him to rediscover his own past and Kasvarina responded graciously that his trials and tribulations had made her own easier to bear. Later, though, she confided in Leon that she had begun to dread the revelations that remained, and doubted her ability to hold herself together. Leon did his best to reassure her that her past was not her future, regardless of what they discovered further on. On their way out of the vault – forewarned by Adolini that traps awaited any who had conversed with him or Linia – Ururanged ahead, crawling along the ceiling and scanning the floor very carefully. Progress was slow. It was sheer good fortune that he managed to throw himself clear of the huge pillar embedded in the ceiling that crashed down into the passage below. Once he was aware of the mode of the trap, he was able to easily see where the other pillars were and guide the others back to the vault of Accursed Items (where he also found a magical egg in the remains of the rust monster they killed). All of the traps in the next long passageway had been disabled or deactivated long ago, but since then someone had placed obvious and easily avoided fraises of bone and metal spears – narrow enough to deter anything larger than human size (such as huge rust monsters?) from making their way down this passage. At length they came to a T-junction, where another passageway headed north towards the final vault. Ahead, the iron doors to the Vault of Damned Souls were guarded by a pallid group of ‘warriors’ who wore leaden chains like bandoliers. One went inside to report their arrival; the others tried to look intimidating. Throgmorton said this was the group who had captured Orum Dwist, and that Dwist felt sure the Bloodstone Ape lay in this direction. Suddenly, a memory event transpired, drawing Kasvarina and Quratulain into combat with another group of leaden legionnaires, of whom they made very short work. They were led by a bearded devil who fled. Then they headed north. The door guards shifted uneasily as the memory event dissipated. Korrigan shrugged off the mantle of Nicodemus, and said to Kasvarina, “I think there is something else we need to do before we continue.” Kasvarina acquiesced and Korrigan told the guards to stand aside. They did so, nervously. Another of their number came to say that ‘Belcamp desired to speak with these newcomers’ and so they made their way through the vault, gathering legionnaires as they went, until they came to the Pious Mount and Keystone Exhibit, by which time they were surrounded by more than thirty of them. Some were obviously captured tomb-robbers, as their clothes were relatively modern; some appeared to be ancient in origin, while still others were demonic even before they had been chained. Two of this latter group tormented Somnia, the lillend, who had been lashed to a ten-foot flaming sword atop the Pious Mount. Gupta and Kasvarina were both amazed to see that this was one of Srasma’s blades. Ahead, on a throne formed by his own subjects, watching dretches clown for his amusement, sat Belcamp, a bearded demon (the very one from the memory event) whose own chains were made of gold. There followed a cursory negotiation in which Korrigan demanded the release of certain prisoners, and access to the vault beyond. Belcamp refused, unless the group secure a magical rod for him. It could be found in the chamber with the rust monsters; with it he would defeat his ancient foe, Giovanni. While the idea of pitting these two rival groups against one another very much appealed to Korrigan, it became obvious that the rest of the unit were in no mood to parley with these creatures and were impatient for a fight. (Throgmorton spotted Orum Dwistamong the legionnaires; Quratulain analysed the situation and felt certain that recent recruits could be ‘salvaged’.) Fed up of talk, Uru revealed his position on the ceiling when he unleashed the ghostly entourage who threw open the iron doors behind Belcamp’s throne. Korrigan strode forward and a fight ensued. Uru took the form of Giovanni (albeit smaller and standing on the ceiling), taunted Belcamp and then vanished, only to reappear when Uriel caught the devil in a pillar of radiance, killing him with a single shot. Quratulain and Matunaaga mowed down legionnaires in huge numbers, and Rumdoom unleashed an enormous ice storm that hurt his allies as well as their foes, but cut down the weak legionnaires in swathes. The fight was over in a matter of seconds. Matunaaga stunned Orum Dwist and they worked to free him. (It was too late to help the clergy acolyte who was captured alongside him; Quratulain had killed him, accidentally or otherwise.) Dwist was extremely grateful, and keen to continue his search for the Bloodstone Ape: Belcamp had said that the annis hag Gorago and her band had negotiated with him for passage (there had been a few goblins added to his legion as a result) but they had not returned from the vault of Beasts of the Infernal Horde. Somnia the lillend, a beautiful, fascinating creature – breathtaking and alarming in equal measure – was also very grateful to be free and said she would come with them until the opportunity arose for her to use her song on their behalf. It would send the inhabitants of the vault into a deep sleep. Leon offered her the chance of freedom, but the strange creature refused and said she would prefer to return to Giovanni once her debt had been paid. “I’ve seen the outside world, thank you. An eternal party is far better.” So they travelled down the next passageway, handily avoiding yet another trap, thanks to Leon’s mastery of teleportation magic. (This trap would have seen its victims teleported elsewhere in the complex.) Having braced themselves, they threw open the great iron doors at the far end and were greeted by a horrifying sight: a flayed giant, without feet, crawled its thunderous and bloody way towards them, accompanied by the baying of burning hellhounds. Thank heavens for the lullaby of Somnia, which caused all of these creatures to slow, lower themselves gently to the floor and fall soundly asleep. This effect would only last a few minutes, she said, so they needed to make haste! [B]End of Session[/B] [/QUOTE]
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