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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7439007" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 56, Part Two - Meanwhile......up on the roof:Just before the Professor Bugge (or Cedric San) – for it was he, the dark-robed necromancer – invoked the spirit of Venkio, Korrigan had transformed into a Bolt of Avilona and shot up to the roof where Leon was working on the lantern. Korrigan’s arrival couldn’t have happened at a better moment. Leon was attempting to infuse the lamp with enough oil to make it coterminous with the Dreaming. He had already exhausted the supply he had stolen from Mutravir (and kept in the absurdist web), but it was not enough – he needed more, and thought that the Borenbog’s Gourd could supply it. So the opening moments of the fight against Venkio saw Korrigan and Leon pouring fey spirits into the huge lamp, while Ascodel, Andrei and Amielle headed down to help the rest of the unit. While they did so, Leon told Korrigan what had happened on the roof:It had been a scrappy fight. Flashy Ascodel was already exhausted, having shown off in the throne room (and ridden through the air for 24 hours). He also found that his aelectrical flight powers – with which he had borne Leon and Andrei up onto the roof – puttered out after just a few seconds, dumping them onto the tiles in range of the wraith horde and Ob squads that were guarding the lamp. (No golem up here – too heavy.) Andrei had done his best, as always, but was brought down just before the last of the Ob soldiers were taken out. (By now, he was back on his feet, but his clothes were once again in tatters.) Leon had suffered a teleportation mishap that saw him end up prone on top of the lantern. But that was perhaps best as it took him out of sight of the Ob squad who had already riddled him with bullets.With Amielle Latimer’s help, they had eventually dispersed first the wraiths and then the soldiers. This was not the first time she helped them, having bought the loyalty of the guards on Mutravir and protected them from a Shadowlisk. Now Amielle had evidently chosen to completely abandon the Ob and switch sides. “As you can see,” she said, “I have grown tired of Nicodemus and can no longer support his Grand Design.” Once the fight on the roof was over, she told them that Stanfield was going to perform a ritual in Flint that night, but that if he was stopped, they should be able to protect Risur from falling under the Obscurati’s dominance. She was willing to help stop the Ob from assassinating Aodhan, but warned them it would be problem if she ‘died’, as anything she had learned could be dragged out of her magically when she rejuvenated back with the Ghost Council.…near the Titan ShrineFighting alone, as he preferred, Asrabey tore into the forces guarding the lantern near the Titan Shrine.  If it wasn’t for the bleak aura surrounding the golem, his fiery blade would have taken out the wraith horde in two blows and the Ob soldiers were simply incapable of hitting him, he moved so fast. The only thing that gave him pause was the golem’s tracer cannon. Although it missed, the flare it caused was so bright it blinded Asrabey temporarily.  Despite being unable to see, he blasted out a roaring wall of fire and could hear the screams and smell the burning flesh of the enemies it had hit. By the time his sight recovered, the wraiths were gone and only the golem and a few brave soldiers remained – the rest having high-tailed it into the gloom. Asrabey pinned the golem in place with his lion shield and mopped up the rest of the squad while it gnawed on the golem’s chassis. Then he put the golem out of commission and turned his attention to the lantern…… in the Throne RoomKing Aodhan had elected to remain in situe – an obvious target for the Obscurati, drawing danger away from the wedding guests who were being herded to sanctuary in the bunker. Concerned for other occupants of the palace, he sent Unit B into the east wing to corral any survivors and bring them here. Tasked with defending the king, the leader of Unit B, Ludo Marcione, began to object, then thought better of it and departed.Now King Aodhan stood with only his Principal Minister Harkover Lee and personal bodyguard Dame Jillian, the Green Knight.  The walls he had raised would not hold back the wraith horde forever. Eventually, they scrambled high enough and spilled into the throne room like a flood of witchoil and the king funnelled them with more raised earth. Harkover launched powerful fireballs at them,  Dame Jillian employed solar turning and defended the king with her halberd. They fought well, as did Aodhan, who was surprisingly sprightly for a man of seventy. But the wraiths kept coming in wave after exhausting wave and soon they were swamped. Harkover’s combat spells were close to depletion and Jillian’s second solar turning petered and quailed in the gloom of the Gate. When their efforts earned them a brief respite, Aodhan gathered his friends around him and reinvigorated them with the bounty of Risur itself.At that moment, Lauryn Cyneburg appeared.  She shot a paralysing bolt at a lone wraith that flitted towards her, took a look around and said, “Oh, <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.  I’ll be back with reinforcements as soon as I can!” Then she vanished. Harkover appealed to the King to follow suit, but Aodhan refused. He would stand and fight here.Just then, the artillery on the North Lawn fired again (for this was before Gupta silenced them). Two shells slammed into the throne room and the impact was sufficient to throw Aodhan, Harkover and Dame Jillian to the floor, showering them with rubble and debris. There followed a moment of silence while they lay dazed, before slowly getting to their feet. When they did so, they noticed that Unit B had returned and had gathered around them. They didn’t appear to have rescued any stragglers.Campion Pryce-Hill offered a hand to Harkover. When he took it, Campion drew him close, raised a blowpipe in his free hand, and blew a dart into Harkover’s eye. Harkover staggered away as the other members of the unit attacked Aodhan and Dame Jillian. Harkover fell and began to shudder and shake.Ludo Marcione, master of psionics, then raised a mental shield over all of them – a bubble that would exclude interference while his team did its job. As he did so he muttered, “Lady of the Forked Tongue, you promised me power in return for my aid. I hold you to your vow!” An abyssal rune passed over the surface of the hemisphere.The bubble was positioned so as to lock Harkover outside. But Harkover was in no position to help the king in any case…</blockquote>

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