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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7630511" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 231, Part Three - Deadly Seas</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"> <strong>Deadly Seas</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"><strong></strong></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> There was nothing for it but to press on. They all took some solace from their shared vision of the future, which showed them returning to Lanjyr somehow (albeit with an abject sense of failure). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Leaving the ship to continue recharging, they flew on their stone discs to Padyer, leaving Leon and Uriel behind once again. Calily also stayed on as host.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> After a few hours flight they left the rolling, forested hills of Caeloon behind and now they flew across a bright, white expanse: Padyer was a beautiful but eerily smooth tableau that resembled porcelain. Sending his roving eye to the highest vantage, Korrigan found he could perceive a slow tilt, or wobble like a top about to stop spinning. A lapping sea drifted in the far distance and would eventually be upon them, wherever they chose to stop. Calily had warned them that this water was impossibly hot; hot enough to slag metal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> The only other feature was a lonely, cracked ceramic tower. Above the door was inscribed the legend, ‘Padyer’. It had been warded against intrusion and, with the seas fast approaching, they did not have the time (nor the right personnel) to investigate further. Kai said that he felt the tower was ‘sad’ and wondered if it might help to bond to a world if you knew what had happened to it. Again, they didn’t have the right person for the job – Uriel might have the means to unlock the secrets of the tower, but it was not worth summoning him here, given the increasing proximity of the searing sea.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> So they left Padyer and rejoined the Coaltongue, setting off northwards from Caeloon to deal with the pirates of Hunlow. Their journey took them through one of the clusters of empty motes. Here the isolation and emptiness caused them to be more aware of the ‘background hum’ of the Gyre: the occasional blink of the lighthouse on Ascetia – which Gupta found herself increasingly compelled to visit – and another light, much more steady, which seemed to mark out the days here, like a nostalgic reminder of their lost sun. Calily said it was a sun – one of the planes, called Obliatas. Uru also spotted clusters of drifting spirits – souls that had been gathered in the Bleak Gate, now drawn helplessly towards the teeth of the Gyre. It was from this fate they had rescued El Perro, Helandra, Lavanya and Korrigan’s wife.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> As they drew closer to Hunlow, Uriel announced that he had sensed a divine presence in the Gyre ever since they first arrived. Now he was certain that a god was to be found on Hunlow. Uru nudged Korrigan, “Can’t you have a chat with him and get him to disbelieve in himself?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> The vortex array was trained on Hunlow. The result was death and water.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Up close, the plane was a vast ocean of waves that turned blood-red as they crested. At its centre was a chain of islands in the form of a skull and crossbones.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “This ocean <em>is</em> the god,” said Uriel. “A bloodthirsty and wicked one. Gleefully so!” Though he did not feel that the god could rise up and harm them directly, its servants would be very powerful here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Korrigan scoured the plan with his roving eye, focusing his search on the island chain. Sure enough, on the largest, central landmass, he spied rising plumes of smoke. The skull shape was formed from inlets – craters that let the sea in to form the eyes and nasal sockets. Inside the left eye, a whole flotilla of ships lay, protected from the seas. The pirates had gathered together and were engaged in some sort of ritual: dozens of victims were lashed to an enormous pyre on the vertiginous shore. They needed to move fast.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Soon the Coaltongue would lose power. They took it down a few miles away and used the stone discs to take them closer. When they had reached a safe distance they came to rest, and only Uru ranged ahead on Little Jack. He followed the sea channel into the eye-socket inlet, and soon could hear the sound of dream beats and ululations over the waves. There were more than a dozen ships gathered here, and many hundreds of pirates.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Uru picked his way to the centre of the throng, hopping, unseen from ship to ship. Just in case, he adopted a suitably piratical costume and prepared to brazen out any encounter. When he came to what appeared to be the flagship, he looked around for any impressive leader-like types. Sure enough, he found two of them side by side – one loudly enjoying the proceedings and joining in with the shouts and chants; the other, larger figure all the more impressive for its silence: The loud one was dressed as an archetypal pirate captain, complete with voluminous tricorn hat and eye-patch. He was short, corpulent and scaly. The thing beside him was draped in long cloaks, drenched in what must have been seawater. It looked vaguely humanoid, but Uru thought he saw tentacles twitching and the end of its sleeves. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> There were pirate-priests dotted throughout the fleet, leading the chants and calling upon Hunlow, their god, to arise. Torches had already been lit, and were brandished all around the pyre. Who knew how long they would wait before they lit it? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “We can’t allow this to happen,” said Korrigan. “Be ready,” he told Uru. Then he contacted the Coaltongue. Leon and Uriel said they could provide enough power to keep her airborne for now, and set off to provide air support. The unit flew as close as it dared, which was very close indeed, as the pirates were totally distracted. Calily said that the pirates would be very strong, here on Hunlow, and did not appear confident that things would go well. Her reservations notwithstanding, Korrigan took to the air, flew across the flotilla, and came to hover above the pirates leaders.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Thanks to the Humble Hook, he knew them to be Admiral Taracle, the misshapen offspring of Hunlow and a demigod; and Captain Thrusty, a fat half-fiend, formerly of the golden legion, captured by the pirates and now a proud worshipper of their evil god.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “This ritual must end!” Korrigan declared, barely audible over the din.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Captain Thrusty gave a hearty laugh and demanded to know who was addressing them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “I am the king of Risur. You must stop what you are doing and release these prisoners!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> Thrusty found this most amusing. “Or what?” he asked.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “You will suffer the consequences,” said Korrigan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> A wet, muffled grunt came from Admiral Taracle, but Thrusty was still enjoying himself. “You are very funny,” he said. His voice rose melodramatically as he went on: “We will indeed release the prisoners, but only because we do not intend to burn them, merely relish their fear and prepare them for what is to come: When the distant sun of Obliatas next dips beneath the horizon, the thirteen ships of Admiral Taracle’s fleet will sail a circle round the island chain, slitting arteries of hundreds of slaves and leaving a trail of fresh blood. When the day-long ritual is complete, Hunlow himself will arise, and his ocean-sized he will crawl from world to world in a crashing flood, carrying our fleet before him. In four days he’ll sweep across Thrag, Bhoior, Nem, and then reach the shiny new realm which just struck the Gyre. There we will find slaves and gold in abundance, and defeat the Golden Legion!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> There was a deafening roar of approval from the pirates.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “That is all very well,” said Korrigan. “Nonetheless…”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> “<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> this!” said Rumdoom, tired of skulking in his hiding place. He invoked the Icon of Avilona, grew to giant size, and, wielding the Stone of Not in just one hand, launched himself at the pirates’ flagship.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit"> <strong>End of Session</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit"></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7630511, member: 79141"] [b]Session 231, Part Three - Deadly Seas[/b] [FONT='inherit'] [B]Deadly Seas [/B][/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] There was nothing for it but to press on. They all took some solace from their shared vision of the future, which showed them returning to Lanjyr somehow (albeit with an abject sense of failure). [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Leaving the ship to continue recharging, they flew on their stone discs to Padyer, leaving Leon and Uriel behind once again. Calily also stayed on as host. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] After a few hours flight they left the rolling, forested hills of Caeloon behind and now they flew across a bright, white expanse: Padyer was a beautiful but eerily smooth tableau that resembled porcelain. Sending his roving eye to the highest vantage, Korrigan found he could perceive a slow tilt, or wobble like a top about to stop spinning. A lapping sea drifted in the far distance and would eventually be upon them, wherever they chose to stop. Calily had warned them that this water was impossibly hot; hot enough to slag metal. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] The only other feature was a lonely, cracked ceramic tower. Above the door was inscribed the legend, ‘Padyer’. It had been warded against intrusion and, with the seas fast approaching, they did not have the time (nor the right personnel) to investigate further. Kai said that he felt the tower was ‘sad’ and wondered if it might help to bond to a world if you knew what had happened to it. Again, they didn’t have the right person for the job – Uriel might have the means to unlock the secrets of the tower, but it was not worth summoning him here, given the increasing proximity of the searing sea. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] So they left Padyer and rejoined the Coaltongue, setting off northwards from Caeloon to deal with the pirates of Hunlow. Their journey took them through one of the clusters of empty motes. Here the isolation and emptiness caused them to be more aware of the ‘background hum’ of the Gyre: the occasional blink of the lighthouse on Ascetia – which Gupta found herself increasingly compelled to visit – and another light, much more steady, which seemed to mark out the days here, like a nostalgic reminder of their lost sun. Calily said it was a sun – one of the planes, called Obliatas. Uru also spotted clusters of drifting spirits – souls that had been gathered in the Bleak Gate, now drawn helplessly towards the teeth of the Gyre. It was from this fate they had rescued El Perro, Helandra, Lavanya and Korrigan’s wife. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] As they drew closer to Hunlow, Uriel announced that he had sensed a divine presence in the Gyre ever since they first arrived. Now he was certain that a god was to be found on Hunlow. Uru nudged Korrigan, “Can’t you have a chat with him and get him to disbelieve in himself?” [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] The vortex array was trained on Hunlow. The result was death and water. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Up close, the plane was a vast ocean of waves that turned blood-red as they crested. At its centre was a chain of islands in the form of a skull and crossbones. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “This ocean [I]is[/I] the god,” said Uriel. “A bloodthirsty and wicked one. Gleefully so!” Though he did not feel that the god could rise up and harm them directly, its servants would be very powerful here. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Korrigan scoured the plan with his roving eye, focusing his search on the island chain. Sure enough, on the largest, central landmass, he spied rising plumes of smoke. The skull shape was formed from inlets – craters that let the sea in to form the eyes and nasal sockets. Inside the left eye, a whole flotilla of ships lay, protected from the seas. The pirates had gathered together and were engaged in some sort of ritual: dozens of victims were lashed to an enormous pyre on the vertiginous shore. They needed to move fast. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Soon the Coaltongue would lose power. They took it down a few miles away and used the stone discs to take them closer. When they had reached a safe distance they came to rest, and only Uru ranged ahead on Little Jack. He followed the sea channel into the eye-socket inlet, and soon could hear the sound of dream beats and ululations over the waves. There were more than a dozen ships gathered here, and many hundreds of pirates. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Uru picked his way to the centre of the throng, hopping, unseen from ship to ship. Just in case, he adopted a suitably piratical costume and prepared to brazen out any encounter. When he came to what appeared to be the flagship, he looked around for any impressive leader-like types. Sure enough, he found two of them side by side – one loudly enjoying the proceedings and joining in with the shouts and chants; the other, larger figure all the more impressive for its silence: The loud one was dressed as an archetypal pirate captain, complete with voluminous tricorn hat and eye-patch. He was short, corpulent and scaly. The thing beside him was draped in long cloaks, drenched in what must have been seawater. It looked vaguely humanoid, but Uru thought he saw tentacles twitching and the end of its sleeves. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] There were pirate-priests dotted throughout the fleet, leading the chants and calling upon Hunlow, their god, to arise. Torches had already been lit, and were brandished all around the pyre. Who knew how long they would wait before they lit it? [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “We can’t allow this to happen,” said Korrigan. “Be ready,” he told Uru. Then he contacted the Coaltongue. Leon and Uriel said they could provide enough power to keep her airborne for now, and set off to provide air support. The unit flew as close as it dared, which was very close indeed, as the pirates were totally distracted. Calily said that the pirates would be very strong, here on Hunlow, and did not appear confident that things would go well. Her reservations notwithstanding, Korrigan took to the air, flew across the flotilla, and came to hover above the pirates leaders. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Thanks to the Humble Hook, he knew them to be Admiral Taracle, the misshapen offspring of Hunlow and a demigod; and Captain Thrusty, a fat half-fiend, formerly of the golden legion, captured by the pirates and now a proud worshipper of their evil god. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “This ritual must end!” Korrigan declared, barely audible over the din. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Captain Thrusty gave a hearty laugh and demanded to know who was addressing them. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “I am the king of Risur. You must stop what you are doing and release these prisoners!” [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] Thrusty found this most amusing. “Or what?” he asked. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “You will suffer the consequences,” said Korrigan. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] A wet, muffled grunt came from Admiral Taracle, but Thrusty was still enjoying himself. “You are very funny,” he said. His voice rose melodramatically as he went on: “We will indeed release the prisoners, but only because we do not intend to burn them, merely relish their fear and prepare them for what is to come: When the distant sun of Obliatas next dips beneath the horizon, the thirteen ships of Admiral Taracle’s fleet will sail a circle round the island chain, slitting arteries of hundreds of slaves and leaving a trail of fresh blood. When the day-long ritual is complete, Hunlow himself will arise, and his ocean-sized he will crawl from world to world in a crashing flood, carrying our fleet before him. In four days he’ll sweep across Thrag, Bhoior, Nem, and then reach the shiny new realm which just struck the Gyre. There we will find slaves and gold in abundance, and defeat the Golden Legion!” [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] There was a deafening roar of approval from the pirates. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “That is all very well,” said Korrigan. “Nonetheless…” [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] “:):):):) this!” said Rumdoom, tired of skulking in his hiding place. He invoked the Icon of Avilona, grew to giant size, and, wielding the Stone of Not in just one hand, launched himself at the pirates’ flagship. [/FONT] [FONT='inherit'] [B]End of Session[/B] [/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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