Session Start: Fri Mar 30 16:15:00 2007
Session Ident: #castlevania
<GM> [The party is scattered prone on a grassy field surrounded in
ruins.  Behind them, the breach has consolidated into a small, black
stone and fallen to the ground.]
* Siobhan rubs her shoulder, "Let's not do that again."
<GM> [The afternoon sun is quickly falling behind distant mountains.
Slowly, the pain of crossing the breach subsides and the party can
stand.]
* Nyyx gets to her feet slowly and takes a look around. "Let's not,"
she agrees.
<GM> [A lone figure clad in a long red robe detaches itself from a
nearby wall and walks toward the stone.]
* Siobhan stands up and approaches the stone.
<Siobhan> I wouldn't grab that if I were you.
<GM> [The figure approaches to within five feet of the stone and
stops.]
* Siobhan places herself between the stranger and the stone.
<GM> "Would you protect the stone from me, Paladin?"
* Nyyx walks up to stand next to Siobhan. "Who are you, and what do
you want?"
<GM> "I am Gregor and I have come to parley.  Nothing more."
<Siobhan> Then, I think my answer is yes.  Yes I will.
* Nyyx frowns upon recognizing the name.
<GM> "How droll."
* Skip finally regains his senses and observes the scene unfolding
near the stone.
<Nyyx> You want to parley? Fine. What have you come to say?
<GM> "First, the stone is a given.  You will understand."
<GM> "And thank you.  You have been a great help.  It is my fervent
hope that you can help me further."
<Siobhan> Riiight.  Since you haven't killed us yet, I assume there
is a reason?
<Theodore> "And how have we helped you?"
<GM> "Of course, I just love mouthy paladins.  I have not killed you
because it has never been in my interest to kill you."
<GM> "When has anyone died in my castle?  One little adventurer.  You
killed all the rest."
<Siobhan> Killed?  I believe they are already dead to begin with.
<Siobhan> We're just returning them to their natural state.
<GM> "You will forgive me, and them, if we fail to see the
difference."
<Siobhan> Forgiveness isn't my office Gregor.
<Theodore> I thought you liked them wandering about.  Makes sure no
one sneaks in at night and messes with your vampiric daughters.
<GM> "Ha.  Ever the wit.  But to the point.  You have helped me by
entering the Core and surviving to escape.  It was so clumsy, but you
managed."
<Siobhan> Well, I'm glad we could be entertaining.  You don't get the
stone though.
<GM> "I could not have succeeded, but you lived, against all odds,
and the future thanks you."
<Theodore> Oh yes?  And what does this future hold?
* Siobhan bends down to pick up the stone.
<GM> [He dismisses the question.] "But I'm getting ahead of myself.
How much do you understand?"
<GM> [The stone is immensely heavy.]
<Theodore> Well, I picked up that you are the bad guy.  And you are
undead.
<GM> "Wrong on both counts, Wizard."
<Siobhan> Look, why don't you just cut the mysterious bit and get on
with your gloating, just do it so we can understand exactly how
brilliant your master plan is.
<Theodore> Oh yeah?  I have been wrong before... I think it was when
I was eight though.
* Skip slowly gets to his feet and quietly moves behind Gregor,
keeping about 25 feet away.
<GM> "What did you think, I built a big castle, filled it with
monsters and forced you through it because I am horribly uncreative
and bored?"
<Theodore> That and you were ill treated as a child, yes
<GM> "Steven didn't mention this part.  You people are very rude."
<Siobhan> You'll have to forgive me if I don't see you worthy of
polite company.
* Nyyx, who hasn't said anything in some time, inclines her head
slightly. "If you're not the 'bad guy' and not undead, what is it
that you'd have us believe about yourself?"
<GM> "You should.  If you understood what was at stake, you would."
<Siobhan> Well, enlighten me then, if it's so important.
<GM> "That what I am doing is necessary."
<Theodore> Very well.  We will be polite for a time for you to tell
your story.
<Nyyx> Necessary for what, exactly?
<GM> "Have you even asked why I set all of this up?  Why I sacrificed
Steven to observe your success?  Why I set up Evelyn, Perdo, Rosalyn,
Lucien, and everyone else in Kronenburg to die?"
<Siobhan> No, do tell.
* Nyyx blinks. "What...?"
<Nyyx> What do you mean you set up everyone in Kronenburg to die?!
<GM> "The demiplane.  That's why.  And Hassad."
<Siobhan> The rationalization of maniacs is soooo interesting.
<GM> "They are not all dead.  The town is as you left it.  But the
losses have scarred the populace."
* Nyyx's brow furrows further. "Fine, I'll bite. Why did you set all
this up?"
<GM> "My master, Hassad, was a necromancer of great power.  But not
the vile creature history remembers.  He was a researcher at heart.
He spent his life, even forsaking undeath, studying an anomaly."
<GM> "The spontaneous rising of the dead."
<GM> "You have run into numerous intelligent, decent undead in the
castle.  Where did they come from?"
<GM> "Well?"
<Siobhan> You tell me, it's your copper.
<Theodore> Delivery service?
* Nyyx shrugs. "I assumed you or your master created them."
<GM> "(heh) Adventures who don't think are just tools.  Whether for
some King or me it's all the same."
<Theodore> "Yes, yes.  But we get shiny things from Kings.  From you,
we just get Kobolds."
<GM> "No, they came here of their own free will.  Many are centuries
old.  And absurd as it sounds, not the vile, hateful, destructive
creatures we are all trained to expect."
<GM> "And yet I bet you value the Kobold."
<Theodore> "Of course.  He plays with my cat."
* Nyyx digests this information for a moment.
<GM> "That was Hassad's breakthrough.  He noticed the undead where
everyone else would have simply sent in a paladin and missed the
clues."
<GM> "That they exist is not the critical point.  The question is,
why?"
<GM> "These new undead fell under notice because we expect shambling
horrors, not sentient, complex creatures.  And we expect horrors
because in centuries past, that is all there were."
<Siobhan> This is all interesting, but why should I believe you?
<GM> "Because the proof in the High Halls.  More sentient undead
proof than you could refute.  Or destroy."
<Siobhan> Whether or not there are sentient undead in the high halls,
how do we know you weren't involved in their creation?
<GM> "So, what caused these new undead to rise?  What changed?  They
were spontaneous.  This was not a mage's fault."
<GM> "What would be their use?"
<GM> "All they do is sit up there and languish.  Why would I do
that?"
<Theodore> To recommend good romance novels?
<Siobhan> Playthings for the idle undead?  Why do you creatures do
anything?  
<Siobhan> My point is, what reason do I have to trust what you're
telling me?
<GM> "All the pieces fit.  If you don't believe me, fine.  I'll
persuade in other ways."
<GM> "This will all be easier if you accept what is happening."
<Theodore> Musical theatre?
<Siobhan> Right, easier for you
<GM> "And so a question, why would otherwise good, decent people not
stay dead?"
* Nyyx stands with her arms crossed, but she seems interested in
Gregor's explanation. "If you know the answer to that question, why
don't you tell us?"
<GM> "Because I was hoping you would try to follow along instead of
make snide remarks."
<Theodore> "We are better at snide though."
<GM> "The dead don't stay dead because they have nowhere to go."
<Siobhan> Sorry, if I'm reluctant to follow the trail of breadcrumbs
left by the evil witch.
<GM> "Quiet Paladin, the adults are speaking."
<Nyyx> So you're suggesting that there's no afterlife or whatever
we're supposed to believe happens to people when they die.
<Theodore> Or we can nail them down
<Siobhan> What, because I choose not to believe you I'm a child?
<GM> "'evil witch', paladin, cobbler, zombie, or king.  Who chose
their fate?"
<Skip> Siobhan, let the man speak.
<GM> "Why, then, are some evil and unworthy of concern or mercy?"
<Nyyx> By choice, I would think.
<GM> "What choice?  To not fall on the tender mercy of a paladin?  To
not give up what little they have left and resign themselves to
limbo?"
<Theodore> "Tell you what, how about we get to why the undead in your
castle didn't have a place to go."
<GM> "Because of people like you!  Where in this world can they hide
that you won't find them?"
<Theodore> "Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way... why did
they become undead?"
* Nyyx frowns.
<GM> "As to why they have nowhere to go.  I am not entirely certain.
Hassad died before he found out and afterword, he could only describe
a void where he expected his eternal punishment."
<GM> "Hassad's failing was that he thought like a wizard."
<Theodore> Yes a terrible failing.  And how do you think?
<GM> "Like a theurge."
<Nyyx> What's the difference...?
<Theodore> Oh.  And here I was going to guess lunatic.
<GM> "Hassad failed to understand the divine element in the
equation."
<Theodore> And which gods are responsible?
<GM> "All of them."
<Theodore> So they all got together to make undead run around your
place.
<GM> "The afterlife is nothing more than the wasted potential of
lived cut short whether grace or malice."
<Siobhan> There it is.  I knew there was something to his 'pity my
defenseless people' bit.
<GM> "In the end, this potential is focused by and claimed by the
deities."
<Siobhan> 'I'm undead and I hate it, so let's kill the gods.'
<GM> "It now goes unclaimed by and large."
<Theodore> And why have the dieties stopped collecting?
* Nyyx frowns again.
<GM> "Of course, I'm a would-be godslayer.  And you rode into town on
a white horse under a bright noonday sun.  We're all cliches here."
<Theodore> No horse can carry my girth.
<GM> "I didn't say they stopped.  They have changed tactics to
compensate."
<GM> "Most souls go nowhere because the afterlife has been severed,
but priests still channel the power of the gods.  How?"
<Theodore> Magic?
<GM> "You have seen it."
<Theodore> Yes, on the faces on children.  What are you getting at?
<GM> "Instead of risking themselves to rebuild the afterlife which
would benefit their deific enemies as well as there allies, the gods
channel spells and draw power by directly investing themselves in
their followers."
<GM> "The religions of the world claim that a priest prays for divine
favor.  No, they have divine favor within themselves to be used as
they see fit."
<GM> "Once invested, a priest can do whatever it wants without
suffering divine wrath."
<Theodore> So the whole fallen priest thing is wrong.  Just like
alter boys.
<Skip> If you know souls go nowhere, why would you work to swell the
number of  the dead across the world? Research, or are you building
an army?
<GM> "Of course, this is greatest heresy.  All perspective priests
are heavily indocrinated and watched and all rogues quickly slain."
<Siobhan> Also, what's in it for you to tell us this, aside from
trying to sway us to your cause?
<Nyyx> I'm not sure I follow. You're saying that priests don't
channel power from the gods but have always contained that power
themselves?
<GM> "Because they all will go here." (He points at the stone.)
<Nyyx> But the demiplane has collapsed.
<GM> "No, the gods permanently invest them with power.  In return,
they get the priest's soul and those of followers in close
association."
<GM> "Yes, it has, to a singularity.  That is what I needed you to
do."
<Theodore> "So the souls back in the castle are dead priests, huh?"
<GM> "No, they are the souls of the restless dead."
<Nyyx> I see. So you're suggesting that priests are not much
different from people who bargain with fiends for power.
<Theodore> "Oh right.  So what was the point of telling us about
priests then?"
<GM> "By collapsing the demiplane, you collapsed the Core.  I no
longer need to waste time and precious energy catering to the
unfulfilled dreams of the dead through such artifices as the theatre,
and the town in the Core."
<GM> "Essentially, no.  They just make better deals."
<Theodore> "Oh good.  So what is your new plan?"
<GM> "To use the potential in the stone to build a new afterlife."
<Theodore> "An afterlife for whom?"
<Siobhan> Why should we let you do that?
<GM> "If things are left as they are, more and more dead will rise.
Eventually, the very foundations of our world will collapse.  That
potential must be contained.  You saw the barest speck of it when you
used the Shadow Siphon."
<Theodore> "Shadow Siphon?"
<GM> "Perdo used it to open the breach and you used it to consume
him."
<Theodore> "Ah, that."
<GM> "Imagine an entire world where that is possible, but there is no
breach to escape through."
<GM> "Imagine the suffering, and then the same collapse."
<Theodore> "So what is your plan?"
<GM> "Imagine that the gods are unwilling to risk their existences to
stop it."
<GM> "So am I evil?  Yes.  Am I the bad guy?  No."
<Siobhan> Can we trust you? No.
<Theodore> So what is your plan?  You speak in riddles.
<GM> "I can prove the truth of what I'm saying.  Priests do carry the
spark.  You have been lied to.  You have already seen the proof."
<Theodore> "Yes yes.  Even if we believe you, what is your plan."
* Nyyx sighs wearily. "Yes, we'll hear you out on your plan."
<GM> "To feed the stone.  It has all of the potential of a new
afterlife if enough souls are drawn to it.  It had hit a snag as it
had grown too large and inefficient to support its own growth.
Thanks to you, that has changed.  It will grow and as it grows, the
new afterlife, composed of that wasted potential will grow within
it."
<Nyyx> And what do you propose that the stone be fed with?
<Siobhan> "So you're plan is to sit back and let nature work for
you?"
<GM> "Yes, until the inevitable setbacks occur.  It will grow on its
own for a time.  But it may need help.  And there are bound to be
rivals."
<Siobhan> So why should we help it?
<Nyyx> Inevitable setbacks? More snags, as what happened earlier?
<GM> "I've already made that clear.  You can either help or you can
sit back and wait to die."
<Skip> It may need help? Like another plague, perhaps?
<GM> "Probably.  The influence of the stone needs to reach the entire
world.  As of now, it maybe has a reach of 1,000 miles."
<Siobhan> So what happens if the stone gets broken?
<GM> "All little Paladins go home without their dinners."
<Siobhan> Aww, and I was looking forward to a little steak
<Skip> The influence of the stone? So people need to die in a certain
way? Or, what are you saying?
<GM> "Influence, die yes, or be recently dead."
<GM> "Nature tends to take care of that."
<Skip> So it was you, then. The riders in black. The plague. My
people.
<GM> "A necessary sacrifice.  If it is any consolation, Greycloak
handled that business and not me."
<GM> "And the business to the east."
* Skip draws his sickle and pick, "Since you're so concerned with the
afterlife, let me show you on your way," Skip lunges at the clocked
figure with the fury of a thousand red hot suns.
* Nyyx grimaces in distaste. "You feed this artificial alternate
afterlife by massacring civilizations."
<Siobhan> I knew there was a catch somewhere in there.
<GM> "What would you use?  Would you rather the world die?"
* Siobhan readies her hammer to back up Skip.
<GM> "I had hoped natural deaths would suffice, but alas, the world,
she is unkind."
<Siobhan> But you are, right?  Sacrificing everything to save
existence.
<GM> "Who said everything?"
* Skip swings his sickle around and misses, but turns and drives the
pick home in the villain's leg.
<Nyyx> And what would you have considered kind?
* Nyyx makes no move to stop her companions, but she seems
disinclined to engage battle just yet.
<GM> "Kind?  Will your vaunted morality be a fitting tombstone for
our world?"
<Siobhan> What good is a world without it?
<Theodore> "I don't know.  In marble, our morality makes nice
tombstones."
<Nyyx> You didn't answer my question.
<GM> "Kind would be a kinder world than this.  One where the dead
need not haunt and use the living."
* Siobhan thrusts her hammer forward, slamming the head into his
stomach.
<Nyyx> And you would create that kinder world by replacing ours with
your self-created afterlife full of the dead?
<GM> "And who are supposed to reside in the afterlife?"
<Theodore> "The dead?"
<GM> [Gregor's hood falls back on the last strike, revealing Piotyr's
pale, disheveled face marred by the hammer strike.  He gestures...]
<Nyyx> I don't contest that part, but you have explained that the
very creation of the afterlife requires a sacrifice of the living
that would have otherwise--
* Nyyx falls silent.
<GM> [...and misses the Paladin with an arc of crimson light.]
<Nyyx> Piotyr.
<Nyyx> Is that your name, or is it Gregor?
<GM> "Does it matter?  Maybe neither.  Maybe both.  I no longer
remember."
<Theodore> "It matters to me.  How will I send you the right card on
your birthday?"
<GM> "Enough of this!  I have said my piece.  You can join me or be
used by me.  The choice is yours."
* Nyyx glowers. "I'd prefer neither."
<Theodore> "I choose option 3: we kill you."
<Siobhan> "Why don't we just knock you out and drag you out of the
castle?"
<GM> "Then the choice is made.  I will continue without angels.  The
game continues until one of us is dead.  I will await you in the
Tower."
<Theodore> "How melodramatic."
<GM> [The party cuts and smashes a storm around Gregor as he
teleports in a crimson flash.]
<Siobhan> Coward.
* Nyyx , who hadn't drawn her sword, shrugs her shoulders and
readjusts her wide-brimmed hat. "Hm, 'angels'? Interesting word
choice."
<Siobhan> So if we were supposed to be 'angels' does that make him
God?
<Nyyx> I think that's what he hopes to establish himself as.
<Theodore> "Not necessarily.  It does make us dead, though."
<Skip> He'll cover his soul in blood to replace the Gods. He's a
monster.
<Siobhan> Angels are dead? Since when?
<Nyyx> He means to create his afterlife by decimating the living
population. I can't say I agree with that method of delivering the
undead.
<Siobhan> And didn't he mention something about the gods being
threatened by the spiritual power present in the afterlife?
<Theodore> "You say lots of things.  Rarely do we listen."
<Siobhan> Not me, you crochety tub, Gregor.
<Theodore> I am not Gregor
* Nyyx shakes her head. "I'm not entirely sure what he was saying
about the afterlife."
<Siobhan> Me either, but I'm pretty sure he referenced something
about the gods not wanting to risk giving power to their opposition
by restarting the afterlife
* Nyyx nods. "That's about what I understood."
<Siobhan> So if the afterlife gets restarted, then perhaps the gods
die, and then where are we?
* Nyyx rubs her face tiredly and sighs. "I don't know, but all of
this is giving me a horrible headache."
<Skip> We still have the stone, right?
* Siobhan points to the stone on the ground.  "RIght there."
<Skip> This stone IS the afterlife, right? That's what he was saying.
<Nyyx> Yes, the afterlife he's trying to feed.
<Skip> We have to destroy it. Or, maybe, give it to a real deity,
perhaps?
<Theodore> "A real deity?  Like science?"
<Siobhan> Well, I'm not sure it's safe to destroy it.
* Nyyx nods. "I agree with Siobhan. There's no telling what would
happen."
<Skip> I don't think we can know what is or is not safe anymore. He's
sending plagues across the world to feed this thing. He'll kill us
all to gain the power he wants.
* Nyyx looks around again. "Where are we, anyway? Can we get back to
town?"
<Siobhan> That's true, but he may have a point too.  It is possible
that what he's doing will ultimately keep the world spinning.
<Skip> Then like I said, maybe someone or something else should be in
charge.
<Skip> What of your God, Siobhan? What would it do with this power?
How would it reshape the world?
<Siobhan> He, Skip.  My God is Pelor, and He would reshape the world
as it is I would think.
<Siobhan> If he sees the world as it is and is pleased then why would
he change it?
<Skip> I guess I was just wondering what he would do with this
afterlife. Gregor is feeding it innocent lives by spreading a plague.
What would Pelor do?  ((WWPD))
<Siobhan> I don't know Skip, perhaps that is why he isn't doing
anything.  
* Skip points to the rock, "Well, can we lift it? Take it back to
town?"
<Siobhan> Perhaps his solution would be no better, but if that is
what is necessary is the cure worse than the disease?
* Nyyx attempts to pick up the unusually heavy stone from the ground.
* Nyyx finally manages to lift it off the ground with help from
Siobhan.
<Siobhan> So where are we taking this?
<Nyyx> If we can make it back to town, I'd say we should take it
there.
<Siobhan> Which direction is town?
<Nyyx> That way, I think.
* Nyyx gestures with a flick of her head toward the west, where the
ruins open up.
<Siobhan> As good a direction as any at this point.
<GM> [The party lumbers off to the west and leaves the ruins behind.]
<GM> END OF SESSION
Session Close: Fri Mar 30 22:28:31 2007