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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7917374" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 258, Part TwoRound 8As sheer luck would have it, the energy tendril swung back around and almost struck Borne, forming a barrier between him and his intended victims. The colossus roared in fear. Nicodemus sharply admonished him, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take a step back.” Borne obeyed.With the Air pillar out, the Coaltongue listed alarmingly.  The Revolution fired again, this time doing some serious hull damage.  It also subjected Korrigan, Conquo and Rumdoom to another barrage, knocking Conquo down again. Korrigan threw himself clear.  Rumdoom made no attempt to defend himself, yet remained unscathed.“Pull the Coaltongue out,” said Korrigan. “She’s done enough.”  He was concerned that the ship was already badly damaged and could only be effective against the Revolution if it came into close quarters – perilous, given her rate of fire, and difficult, given the conditions, when both air and fire energies could easily be denied.“Wait, please,” replied Rutger Smith.  “The brand is almost recharged. Let us take another shot!” Korrigan left it up to his trusted Admiral to decide.“Iratha Ket!” cried Kai.  Another icon.   Korrigan switched out the existing Air icon and replaced it with Caeloon, then ordered Conquo back on his feet. Conquo got up and slid the pillar into place, then taunted Borne through the energy tendril, daring him to cross it.Quratulain now had a clear shot at Nicodemus.  She took it and hit but nothing happened. There was something going on here, and she said as much.  Even as he lurked on the Revolution, Uru began to understand, as his memories from the Gyre slowly returned and his mastery over spirits intensified.  The being they called ‘Nicodemus’ was neither himself, nor ‘William Miller’, whose spirit their reflected selves had met in the Gyre.  The secret to his invulnerability was just that. He was neither one person, nor the other, and so the Sacrament could not be bypassed by learning his ‘true’ name.Uru and Leon headed to the lower deck. They arrived, both invisible, in a guard room, with hatches to the fore and aft. Elite bodyguards kept watch over the hatch to the bridge, led by none other than Lya Jierre – in ghost form, of course. Judging by the deafening noise, the aft hatch clearly led to the gunnery deck.Leon headed that way, opening the hatch and revealing himself, casting witchfire on one of the gunnery crews: there were six in here, and six guns. The crews were working in close coordination thanks to the hiveminds that controlled them, and as such, they continued to do their duty even as they were attacked from behind.Lya Jierre stepped forward to confront Leon.  “It’s an honour to cross blades with you again. Despite our past disagreements and their consequences...” She paused mid-sentence, and shook her head at her own words. “No, I said that before. I’m afraid I must apologize. I wanted an exciting contest of ideology, but it seems both my sword-fighting and my repartee are frozen in the past.“Before I died, my uncle told me he feared the whole world would remain stagnant if we succeeded. Nicodemus and a council of ghosts, not a beating heart among them, would rule this world. “Remember our first meeting, when I challenged you to break the rules of a puzzle? Well sadly, that’s impossible for me now. But perhaps you still can. Nicodemus has set the rules of our grand finale, but you don’t have to follow them.”She jabbed at him with her ghostly rapier, still possessed of the same finesse. He parried and retreated across the gundeck. “Give me an icon!” Rumdoom shouted to Korrigan, taking a swipe at the Ghost Council as he did so. The swarm of spirits quailed as the Stone of Not swept through them. Despite everything they had learned about how best to deal with ghosts, the Stone of Not turned out to be the ideal weapon!The swarm then tried to subsume Rumdoom. They surrounded him and smiled spectral, rictus grins. “Nicodemus is our leader,” they chanted in unison. “He has guided you as he guides us. You are already one of the council and you do not know it.” Rumdoom was having none of it.Matunaaga launched a psychic attack on the greater demon. Bolstered by bardic inspiration from Gupta, Linia struck at it too, burning herself in the process, such was the heat the evil beast radiated.  Despite this, she whooped in exultation at this chance to strike at the eternal enemy.  The demon ignored her; an angel was small beans when a goddess was on offer and it focused its ire on Gupta. As she defended herself against its incredibly powerful blows, Gupta transformed into a huge, blue tiger, wearing the Arsenal of Dhebisu upon her claws and launched herself at the fiend. Nicodemus focused the ire of his worldwide worshippers on Korrigan, but Korrigan stood firm. Borne, unable to reach through the energy tendril, attacked all those around him with a soul cascade – necrotic energy released from the vast reserves of witchoil within him. Gupta hoped against hope that her family were still there to be rescued.Round 9Taunting Borne might not have been the best idea, as the energy tendril now swept behind Conquo, exposing him to the colossus once again. And again, Borne raised his foot up, to stomp on his half-sized rival.With the Air pillar lowered once more, everyone could fly and the Coaltongue righted.  Now that all of the energy pillars were in place, the huge gold disc – resting half-on, half-off the site, where the terrain had been damaged by Borne’s fall – began to rise into the air.  So that’s how the Ancients did it!The Revolution was still firing.  She had now done a huge amount of hull damage to the Coaltongue, and continued to pound Korrigan and Conquo from above. Conquo was already in a bad way – his huge size and facility with the ritual stones marking him out as a target.Quratulain was accustomed to using her vast, mathematical mind to remain one step ahead of her opponents. She focused all her efforts on doing so and realised that the spirit of William Miller was coming through from the Gyre, along with their reflected selves. Until he did so, there was no point in attacking Nicodemus while he was protected by the sacrament.The Ghost Council Swarm lashed out at all those nearby with punishing spells. They did not hurt Rumdoom, Korrigan dodged aside, but Conquo was hurt again.“I’m going to erase your existence,” said Rumdoom, striking them with the Stone of Not and driving some of them into the energy tendril. The spirits gave another oppressive moan and then vanished: not gone, but withdrawn and invisible, biding their time for another opportune moment to strike.Nicodemus said, “I’ll admit, I was afraid people would reject my grand design, but now I can feel their faith. I’ve opened their eyes to the truth, and they empower me. They know I will save them.” Then he swept down and launched an attack at Conquo: He struck at empty air as if he was grabbing him, and then forced the golem to attack Korrigan, who was still by his side. Then he focused the power of the sacrament, shoving Conquo to the ground with the force of a million hands. Conquo could not move, save to raise up his arms to brace for Borne’s attack.Leon and Lya were locked in a duel: She hit him; he burned her with tiefling fire; she burned him back; he teleported to the far side of the deck; she flew in effortless pursuit. Practised in eladrin warcasting Leon was able to both fend Lya off with his sword and still cast witchfire at the gunnery crews. He finished off the crew he had already injured, so one gun was silenced. But the process was too slow. His modes of attack were insufficient, and he teleported back down onto the battlefield, looking for an alternate.Uru, meanwhile, had shadow-stepped through the bulkhead onto the bridge. Six pilots worked the controls. Behind them stood three figures: Lavanya, in mage cuffs; Bert Facie, bodyguard to the Sovereign; and Uru’s target, Sovereign Han Jierre.Uru fired at once.  Han cried out in alarm, but his numerous magical wards kept him standing. The infernal wrath of the Jierre dynasty punished Uru for his temerity, and Uru hid, wincing, in a cloud of shadow. Within it, he felt his life-force slowly regenerating, just as a titan should!“Hunt him down!” cried Han.  Bert Facie looked perplexed and peered into the cloud, but instead of firing any futile shots, he waited, lantern pistol at the ready. Beside him, Lavanya looked excited, hopeful of rescue.“Prepare to launch the incendiaries!” Han Jierre ordered his crew.Matunaaga, Linia and Gupta were still struggling with the fiery demon. “Leave me to fight this thing!” Linia shouted, knocking the fiend into Borne. “It is a mere distraction! Do what you came here to do.”But Gupta had marked the demon as her prey, and as it rebounded off Borne’s vast heel, she pounced, rending it with her silvery claws. The eladrin goddess slew the foul fiend and it erupted in an infernal explosion.</blockquote>

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