RttToFC/Session21

SonoftheMetalFlame: Can anyone summarize the last game for me?

Alyssa: Emissary wants us to fetch him something from a Solar tomb in return for the key

dakkareth: we arrived in Nexus, the Emissary was an asshole and sent us on a fetch quest

SonoftheMetalFlame: Alright, cool.

SonoftheMetalFlame: Too bad he's an asshole though. :/

Alyssa: I think that's mostly Silk being sore at being out-stealthed

dakkareth: well, yeah

dakkareth: he wasn't worse to us than we were to the Lanterntown people

dakkareth: actually we were a good deal more brutal there

SonoftheMetalFlame: Fair enough.

Alyssa: mind you, neither of us trusts him worth a damn, but that's business for you

Beyond the Tomb of Five Corners - Session 21

Alyssa: "So, we're off to Firewander. Has anyone seen this tomb before?"

Silk blinks. "Now? Without any gathering of information or preparation?"

Alyssa: "I was thinking that a little scout to see the outside of this tomb might be the most prudent of preparations."

Silk: "First we need to exchange what results we have found in our investigation so far - especially about our silver-masked friend."

Silk: "And then I say we should do our homework regarding this task. Namely the identity and properties of this 'heart', theories why he might want it - and most importantly perhaps why he cannot get it himself."

Alyssa: "Very well then. What have you found out so far?"

Silk: "For one, that he seems to be able to see through multiple layers of protection that no eye should be able to see through."

Alyssa: "You're having a bad week for that."

Silk grins sourly. "So it seems."

SonoftheMetalFlame chuckles. "Not to worry, Silk. We're not up against him."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "At least, I should hope not."

Silk: "Not yet."

Alyssa: "I don't think we can rule it out."

Alyssa: "What he wants looks like several concentric metal rings - silvery, magical I think - rotating on a golden rod. He called it a heart."

Silk: "Apart from that, the usual stories from the locals about his powers, making torches of people or doing something to their minds, pretty varied, no theme that I can discern."

Alyssa: "My contact wouldn't discuss him at all. I was called in to meet him immediately afterwards."

Silk: "Ah yes, those servants of his."

Silk: "Son, can you make anything of that 'heart' thing?"

SonoftheMetalFlame thinks for a moment, staring off into the distance. "Perhaps. It sounds like it could possibly have belonged to one of the Raksha."

Silk: (Silk has all his Awareness Charms activated for a counter-surveillance measure, no matter how ineffective it might be against the Emissary's means)

Alyssa: "Well it's in a known wyld zone, so that might well be possible."

Silk: "Are there other possibilities?"

SonoftheMetalFlame shrugs. "I suppose a Raksha could shape a heart for any exalted."

Silk frowns "What would be the consequences of that? What would He gain, if that is someone's 'heart'? What would he gain if that is His 'heart'?"

SonoftheMetalFlame: "Whoever holds a heart controls the person who it belongs to."

Alyssa: "...oh my. If that's his heart... things could get very interesting."

Silk: "So if that theory holds true, we either gift him control over someone or remove a critical weakness of his."

Silk nods. "If it is ..." He trails off, unwilling to speak aloud the possibility of 'renegotiations'.

Silk: "Would there be any way to say with more certainty, Son, any research that can be done?"

Alyssa: "If - and only if - it turns out to be his. Is there any way to find out? This is all speculation, remember. We have few facts."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "All I can think of would be to research more in the Nexus library or talk to some of the Raksha who live here, but I doubt that any would know specifically who it belongs to."

Silk: "We will need to know more about that tomb - and why He can't get it from there himself, if possible - in any case before we can go there."

Silk: "Plus the usual preparations, cold iron in particular. Say, the weapons you crafted for me, Son, do they count as cold iron?"

SonoftheMetalFlame shakes his head. "They are not pure iron, so no."

Silk: "Then if - and that is one of the things we should find out - this tomb is inside the Wyld zone, we will need to equip ourselves."

SonoftheMetalFlame nods. "Agreed."

Alyssa: "I'll see if I can turn up any accounts of previous attempts to enter to tomb. I'd be astonished if someone hasn't tried before."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "We mustn't forget that there is a very real risk of mutation if we enter a Wyld zone unprotected."

Silk: "I will procure cold iron amulets and weapons for each of us."

Silk: (Alyssa - Staff, Son - Cesti, right?)

Silk: "Well, shall we meet at the Gordian Knot once we are finished?"

Alyssa: "That seems like a reasonable plan."

Alyssa will set out to find a savant by the time-proven method of paying her guide only when she actually meets said savant.

SonoftheMetalFlame nods. "I will return around nightfall with what I can find on hearts."

Kuros: (It is now evening, and you have all met back at the Gordian Knot)

Silk hands out cold iron amulets and weapons to everyone

SonoftheMetalFlame takes the amulet and weapons from Silk. "Thank you."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "If either of you are interested, I have a bottle of one of the finest wines in Nexus in my quarters that I would be glad to share."

Alyssa: "I'm hardly likely to refuse such and offer."

SonoftheMetalFlame bows. "Then I shall return shortly." He turns and exits the room.

Silk: "As you know I have little appreciation for the spirits, but thank you for offering."

Silk: (he once explained, it's part religious thing, part poison paranoia, part wanting to stay sharp in all situations)

SonoftheMetalFlame returns shortly thereafter with a very plain wine bottle and two glasses in his hands.

SonoftheMetalFlame sets the glasses down, pulls a corkscrew from a pocket, and opens the bottle of wine. He picks up one glass, and a crimson liquid pours from the bottle to fill the glass halfway. He extends it to Alyssa.

Alyssa accepts the glass and sniffs the vintage.

SonoftheMetalFlame: "So, to our investigation." As he speaks, he pours himself a glass. "I was unable to find anything else on hearts."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "But I did find some more information on the Firewander Tomb."

Silk sticks to his own flask of water, filled by himself from a water seller's shop chosen by random

SonoftheMetalFlame: "We can expect mutants, as it appears that some of the more impoverished individuals in Nexus have taken to camping in its vicinity and even within."

Alyssa sips the wine and nods appreciatively.

SonoftheMetalFlame: "And there is another threat - spectres apparently guard the tomb fiercely."

Silk: (spectres with the meaning of 'ghosts' or is that a specific occult term?)

SonoftheMetalFlame: ( Particularly powerful ghosts )

Alyssa: "Their numbers are apparently depleted of late, but some twenty or so remain it seems."

Silk makes notes. "With only the strongest remaining, would be a reasonable conclusion?"

SonoftheMetalFlame: "That would indeed be reasonable to assume."

Alyssa shrugs. "They remain potent. A coven of sorcerers was destroyed less than two years ago when they tried to break in."

Silk: "Mortal sorcerers? Dragonblooded?"

Alyssa: "Mortals. Few Dragonblooded wish to disturb even the ghost of an anathema."

Silk frowns. "It hardly seems polite to disturb a peer's tomb or even destroy its guardians."

Alyssa: "As to the contents of the tomb, I have no information save the vaguest speculation. It would seem its secrets were lost long ago."

Alyssa: "Well either we attempt this or we do not, Silk. We have limited choices as far as that goes."

Silk: "Indeed, that was not my point. Rather if possible we should disturb as few of them and as little of the contents as possible."

SonoftheMetalFlame nods. "Agreed. We should get in and out with as little damage as possible."

Alyssa: "Ah, well that does make more sense."

Silk: "Though I don't like it at all, if that remains the only option I cannot but agree to accede to his demand. Our own goals are greater than all of this."

Silk: "But perhaps we will be in a better position to discern our options once we are inside the tomb."

Alyssa: "Do you have any ideas of how to cope with spectres?" Alyssa asks Son. "I know you are hardly a necromancer, but can they be reasoned with?"

SonoftheMetalFlame: "Not to my knowledge."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "I mean, I suppose that we could attempt to - we will certainly be able to communicate with them. I have just never heard of anyone attempting such a thing."

Silk grins. "That ... might be worth a try."

Silk: "It would be a great deal of effort for me, but I could try to make them believe that we are to be allowed passage."

Silk: "Of course there is no guarantee of success, especially considering what bindings may be at work."

Alyssa: "We should prepare for the worst though."

Silk counts off on his fingers. "Cold iron, torches, our usual weapons. Can you think of more preparations to make?"

SonoftheMetalFlame shakes his head. "Nothing comes to mind."

Alyssa: "A ready escape if things go awry?"

Silk: "Well thought. Apart from cold iron to protect from the disorienting effects of the Wyld, is there any preparation we can make?"

Alyssa: "Well I'd really like a three week vacation on the beaches of An Teng, but I don't suppose we have the time..."

Silk nods. "Then let us begin with first light tomorrow."

SonoftheMetalFlame: "Sounds good."

Kuros: (OK, it is now first light. Do you head to Firewander?)

Alyssa: (immediately after breakfast)

Silk: (indeed! keep up our strength!)

Kuros: As you head towards Firewander, the buildings get more and more decrepit, and more and more refuse lines the streets, Foul odors begin to permeate the air, and you egin to see people sleeping in alleyways, or slumped against the buildings.

Kuros: Up ahead, the street empties out into a large square that is empty. There is a shimmering at the border where the tents leave off, and the empty square begins.

Silk still has the appearance of a small, graying accountant, but as usual his clothes conceal a multitude of deadly implements. Today even more so than usual.

Silk: The peronelle has instructions to materialize as his armor on his verbal command.

Alyssa: "Well, this would appear to be it."

Silk: "Do you see anything?"

Alyssa: "Just a shimmering in the air."

Silk has a small vial filled with blood and stranger things at hand, but the Charms of the Exalted are considerably more powerful than his thaumaturgy

Silk: "I mean, spirits, ghosts?"

Kuros: The square itself looks odd. The air past the shimmer has a purplish tint..

Kuros: Farther past the square, you see several roads leading off from it

Silk: "What radius around the tomb do they patrol?"

SonoftheMetalFlame: "Several dozen yards, I believe."

Alyssa: "That is my understanding."

Silk: "We will be especially careful then, once we can see the tomb."

Kuros: (According to the directinos, the tomb is farther in Firewander)

Alyssa: (yeah, we're psyching ourselves up)

Alyssa: "So, who wants to lead the way?"

Silk simply steps onto the square. "A few living beings ahead, armed, about 150 meters," he says quietly to the others.

Silk: "I'll notify you if they move."

SonoftheMetalFlame nods.

Alyssa takes the rear, looking around warily.

Silk follows the directions, moving slowly and carefully, always mindful of the possibility of danger

SonoftheMetalFlame follows Silk fairly closely

Kuros: You move through the mostly empty district. One of the buildings you pass is leaning at a rather steep horizontal angle...

Alyssa: (fallen or some kind of wyld effect?)

Kuros: (Wyld effect)

Kuros: (The building is still unbroken)

Kuros: You pass a restauraunt that actually has some customers...

Silk points them out before they are within sight, but continues to move forward

Kuros: It takes perhaps 20 minutes to get to the tomb. It is in the middle of a huge, circular plaza. As you approach, you hear moaning. In the center of the plaza, you see a tapered, golden spire sticking out of the ground, bigger than the buildings surrounding it. It looks as if a needled erupted from the ground below.

Kuros: There is a door in the side of the structure, but as you get closer, you see around 20 beings walking in circles around the structure itself

Alyssa stops on the edge of the plaza and looks up at the spire.

Silk: (how far is the maximum distance from the tomb they go?)

Kuros: (They aren't going much past two dozen yards from the structure)

Kuros: It is still gleaming and golden, without a speck of dust.

Silk: "So, time for negotiations? Maybe in a week or two I will have mastered a technique that could get all of us past them without noticing, but I'm still working on the particulars."

Kuros: One of them occasionaly emits a low, sickening moan

Silk moves closer, taking a few steps onto the plaza and waiting wheter the spectres react

Alyssa: "If we're going to take that long, then I want my beach holiday," Alyssa grumbles good-naturedly. She waves to the spectres. "Hello, can you talk?"

Kuros: One of the ones nearest you stops, and begins to walk over, slowly. As it gets closer, you see it is a young man, dressed in a shredded uniform of some forgotten military. His right leg is grotesquely twisted, and he drags it behind him. His skin is horribly pale, with fine blue lines running beneath the skin.

Kuros: A putrid smell preceeds him as he approaches.

Kuros: It stops a few feet from the edge of the plaza, and the blank, white eyes looka t you.

Silk: "So, can you talk? Can you understand me?"

Kuros: It opens its mouth, and in a hoarse voice says, "Leave..."

Alyssa: "Why don't you leave?" Alyssa asks in tones of sweet reason. "Must be a thousand years since you had a vacation..."

Silk: "And if that is not an option, why don't you gather your comrades around, because I do have something to tell you."

Kuros: It says nothing else, simply stands and watches you, patiently.

Kuros: Several of its comrades begin walking over, each with some deformation or ghastly wound.

Silk raises his voice: "Guardians of the tomb, come and listen!"

Kuros: All of the creactures begin to shuffle over, and within a few minutes, there are in a group, standing directly in front of you across the line marking the plaza

Silk: He lets the empty circle of gold on his forehead shine and intones: "Listen closely now for what I have to say is important to you and your duty."

Kuros: They begin looking hungrily at all of you, and begin swaying back and forth un unison. One of them moans "Come..."

Kuros: The creatures look unaffected, and begin to mill around restlessly.

Silk: As Silk next begins to speak it is hard to say what words he uses exactly. His voice lets the world all around fade away, leaving only the images he conjures into being. He speaks of duty and eternal vigilance, he speaks of the commands given to the spectres and their exceptions, and most important the fact that he and his companions have the authority, the divinely appointed mandate to pass through.

Silk: (Combo! World-Shaping Song, full 1st excellency +memory-reweaving discipline, attempting to rewrite their memories as including me and whomever I bring as authorized to pass)

Kuros: The creatures suddenly part, opening a path through their ranks. They glance at each other, but say nothing

Silk: Though his anima does not flare the air around Silk shimmers with the expenditure of so much Essence. He gestures for Alyssa to go ahead, then follows himself with the same well-played confidence.

Alyssa steps forward into the gap, with apparent confidence.

SonoftheMetalFlame smiles, following after Alyssa.

Kuros: They close around you as you enter the plaza, and begin walking back towards the structure

Kuros: The structure is even shinier up close, and appears to be made of pure orichalcum, with inlaid moonsilver and jade of all colors...

Kuros: The door is a large jade and orichalcum one, and is set in the side of the structure. As you approach, it slides open silently, revealing a small, square room

Alyssa: "By all the gods of Great Forks, I've never seen such splendor," Alyssa whispers.

SonoftheMetalFlame stops at the structure, inspecting closely the craftsmanship.

Alyssa walks into the small room.

Silk: "Impressive yes, but let us focus on the matter at hand. Any inscriptions, pictures, etc that might tell us more."

Kuros: The room is made of some kind of opaque, black glass. As you enter, a pleasent, female voice sounds around you. "Welcome."

SonoftheMetalFlame looks about, trying to spot where the voice comes from.

Kuros: It emerges from everywhere.

Silk: (any other doors?)

Kuros: (No.)

Kuros: "Would you like to visit the Tomb today?"

Alyssa: "Yes, I think we would."

Kuros: The door whispers shut, and the room begins to descend. After nearly half a minute, it stops, and the door slides open..

Kuros: You are in a huge room with a cavenerous, rocky ceiling. The diameter of room appears to be at least half a mile, and you get the impression you are deep underground. ON the walls of the cavern are gigantic, masterwork portraits of a shining, golden figure destroying various horrors...

Kuros: And other heroic images.

Alyssa: "Impressive. The entire spire is nothing but an entrance."

Silk: "Ah. When I spoke of information that might help up, I did not consider that we might have too much of that. But let us see, what we can learn here ..."

SonoftheMetalFlame just stands silently and stoically, observing every last thing in every room.

Kuros: A walkway runs around the edge of the room, and looking over the railing, you see a massive pit. From the center of the, a huge, stone column emerges, and there are various walkways leading to the tip of it. On the tip of the stone pillar rests a massive golden throne, with a suit of ornate armor slumped on it. The hlemet has a set of massive horns, and is golden, as is the rest of the armor.

Alyssa goes to the walls and examines the portraits more closely.

Silk does the same

Kuros: The first portrait, that of the golden figure (A Dawn according to the caste mark he is showing) in massive armor battling a beautiful woman with brown skin, but eyes of green flame.

Kuros: You see Old Realm characters inscribed in the golden wall beneath the massive picture, but you can't read them

Alyssa: "Interesting. I wonder if this is the same Solar, or merely a possession. His opponent appears to be one of the Yozi."

SonoftheMetalFlame nods. "She Who Lives in Her Name. This man was apparently of incredible power."

Silk just follows the pictures then, making a full round. Son will surely be able to read this, for him whatever he can learn from the pictures will have to suffice. For now.

Alyssa: (does the man in the picture's armour resemble that on the throne?)

Kuros: (Yes, the armor is identical)

Silk: Most of all he looks for depictions of the Solar's anima banner.

Kuros: (And his banner, as shown in several photographs, is a gigantic, armored tiger)

Kuros: There are several more pictures. One shows a catacylsmic scene, with many cities across Creation in flames, or dissolving in pools of a green liquid. Presiding over the cities destruction is the face of the woman the Dawn was battling

Silk: As well as anything involving something like the image the Emissary showed.

Kuros: Another portrait shows the green eyed woman standing triumphantly over another woman, impaling her with a spear that burns with green fire. The impaled woman has a shining silver hourglass on her forehead

Alyssa seems quite intrigued by the picture if the cataclysm

Kuros: The last picture shows the armored man holding an object quite similar to the one shown by the Emissary, and staring off into the distance, over undeveloped grasslands

Alyssa: "I wonder who the artist was."

Kuros: The title of the cataclysmic scene is "The Final Blow"

Silk: "Don't rush it, we need all the information we can get, but this one here might be especially pertinent."

Kuros: the one of the woman impaling the other is "A Maiden Destroyed"

Kuros: and the last one is untitled

Alyssa: "This Talmoranth seems to have been quite a legend. It puts a great deal into perspective."

Silk examines the picture in more detail then, trying to discern the man's expression, the location, anything that might help him learn more about the depicted scene.

Kuros: (His face is covered by his helmet)

Silk silently curses the unknown artist

Silk and waits for Son to and Alyssa to read the inscriptions.

Alyssa reads them out to Silk.

Silk: "So, does this help us in any way?"

Alyssa: "Other than the last image suggesting a connection? I don't think so. Do you want to approach his armour and check that? He might still be inside it."

Silk nods. "Carefully."

Silk: And he does just that, slowly approaching the center of the hall.

Kuros: As you approach the golden throne, you see that the armor is empty, but in its lap, is the item the Emissary showed you

Alyssa: "Strange. Where is the body then?"

Alyssa: "Son, can you make anything of this now you're able to look at it?"

Silk: "Somewhere down there?" He gestures downward at the pit below them.

Alyssa: "Maybe. Is there a way down?"

Silk takes a silver piece from his purse and drops it into the pit, straining his essence-sharpened ears to calculate the depths and piece together a picture of its shape and contents from the echoes

Kuros: You can't hear the sound of it hitting the bottom

Silk: "This is strange. It must be more than a mile deep."

Alyssa: (Im sorry, but I'm going to have to call it a night. I'm nodding off at my computer and it's not for lack of interest, I assure you.)

Kuros: (OK, we can end here.)

Kuros: (I was about to reveal the Big Villain, too...)

Silk: (ok, continuing there next week then :) )

Kuros: Bring yoru A-Game next week, though!

Kuros: =)

Alyssa: I'll do my best

Kuros: and you might wanna have some...extra PCs...made up

Kuros: just, ya know, in case

Alyssa: when is it?

Kuros: Friday, 2pm

Silk: oh right, any xp? ;)

Kuros: 7xp

Kuros: makes sure the black cloth that is hiding his villain is still tightly attached

Kuros: "Next week, my precious...next week..."