Session Start: Sat Oct 13 17:37:26 2007
Session Ident: #castlevania
<GM> [The intrepid party is in the middle of wrapping up some
shopping and equipment sales before meeting with the Boccobite
Contact.]
* Nyyx has completed her shopping and has returned wearing new
gauntlets.
* Roland hasn't changed anything at all about himself, strangely.
* Charlotte has a headband. :D
<Roland> I've arranged rooms for the night, Lady Natalia.
<Roland> If there's anything you'd care to see in the few hours
before our appointment, we have two hours or so.
<Nyyx> Thank you, Roland. Is there anything of note that might be
interesting to see in your city?
<Roland> There's always the zoo.
<Charlotte> The zoo?
<Roland> I'm sorry, you southerners would call it a menagerie.
* Nyyx laughs. "All right, let's see the zoo."
<GM> [The party wanders down the wide street several blocks from the 
<GM> Great Library.  As they go, Roland points out choice pubs,
historic homes, and old classmates.  Eventually, the party reaches
the edge of a lightly wooded area.]
<Charlotte> Sounds fun
<GM> [After walking down the cobbled path at the border of the wooded
area for about one half of a mile, the party comes across a row of
small wooden carts from which refreshments and small trinkets are
sold and the entrance to the Misted Vale Memorial Zoo.]
<Nyyx> Quaint. I wonder if Liverwurst would like it if we brought him
a souvenir?
<GM> [A sign in glowing runes scribed in common on black granite
outline the rules of the park: 1) Stay on the path at all times, 2)
Do not antagonize the residents, 3) No magic unless absolutely
necessary to preserve life and limb, 4) No feeding the animals, 5)
Suggested donation, 5sp.]
* Nyyx deposits 5 silver pieces in the donation receptacle.
<GM> [The path branches off into the forest.]
* Roland likewise deposits money.
* Charlotte drops 5 SP in.
<Roland> By the way.  That notice about not stepping off the path?
Obey it.
<Roland> In fact, don't even -think- about disobeying it.
<Charlotte> I wasn't planning on it. But what happens if you disobey?
<Roland> Ah... see the fine print at the bottom of the sign?
* Nyyx reads the fine print.
<Roland> It says that the owners aren't liable for any damages that
happen if you step off the path, and you get to pay the cleanup
costs.
<Roland> Note that that last part is whether you survive or not.
<Roland> If you die, it's taken out of your estate.
<Nyyx> Ah. Good to know.
<Charlotte> Aah
<Roland> Always assume that any given animal in the zoo is entirely
capable of eating you, if it so desires.
<Roland> You never know when a happy looking sheep is actually a
carnivorous fiendish sheep.
* Roland walks in.
* Nyyx steps in after Roland.
* Charlotte walks along. "THis hsould be fun. And safe. And
educational."
* Roland points to the left. "Look, the Fiendish Dire Penguins are
just starting to come out for the winter."
* Nyyx looks. "Cute."
* Charlotte looks at stuff!
<Roland> Too bad it's not feeding time.  They're so cute when they're
chasing down goats.
<Charlotte> Doesn't that get expensive?
* Nyyx smiles wryly.
<Roland> ...we're talking about a zoo, here, Charlotte.  The cost for
maintaining these animals is already exhorbitant.  This is just a
drop in the bucket.
<Charlotte> I suppose so
<Roland> We had to do away with the vampiric goat displays, though.
<Roland> They kept escaping.
<Nyyx> Interesting. I can't say I've ever seen a vampiric goat.
<GM> [The party sees Fiendish Dire Penguins and their caves, a pen of
Displacer Beasts, a single Owlbear, a Wyvern and they even take a
trip through the Lemure House.]
<Roland> Hmm.  Looks like the Duckbunny house is closed.  Must have
started hibernating already.
<Roland> The owlephants are too far out to go see before our
appointment.
<Charlotte> Aw
<Nyyx> That's too bad. Maybe next time, then.
<Roland> The spider bears have been put under already, most likely.
<Roland> Oh well.  We may as well head back.
<GM> [The party spots an aquarium in the distance and wonders at what
creatures call it home, but have to settle for a collection of rare
planar birds and repitles on the way back to the street.]
* Nyyx looks for something Liverwurst may like at the souvenir cart
before leaving.
<GM> [One of the carts is selling a series of carved wooden animals
like those in the zoo.]
* Nyyx approaches the cart. "How much for a carved fiendish dire
penguin?"
<GM> Seller: "Just 2sp, my Lady, if you please.  What about a Dire
Avorumax as well?"
<Nyyx> Perhaps. Would there be a discount if I bought both?
<Roland> Lovely things, those.  Eight legged badgers that eat gold.
<GM> Seller: "Alright, how about 3sp for the lot?"
* Nyyx hands the seller 3 silver pieces. "Done."
* Roland frowns.
<Roland> Who's the demon lord?
<GM> Seller: "What?"
* Nyyx pockets the figures she purchased and looks back at the
selection of figures for a demon lord.
* Roland points to one of the figures.
* Charlotte looks at the figure. "Wow. Weird."
<GM> Seller: "That's a creature in the zoo, not a demon lord sir."
<Roland> What is it called?
<GM> Seller: "The Beast of the Wasting Marshes."
<Roland> Interesting.
<GM> [The party rushes to make its appointment.  Before long, they
are in the main hall of the Great Library.]
<Charlotte> We'll have to get bakc there sometime
<GM> [After several minutes, an aid approaches Roland, gives a short
salute, and leads the party deep into the complex.]
* Charlotte follwos!
<GM> [Instead of the route through back hallways and offices that the
party saw on its last trip into the library, the party is quickly led
down into the sublevels of the structure.  Past several floors of
storage, experimentation and surgery chambers, guarded containment
chambers and other mysterious divisions, the party finds itself at
the end of a long hallway in front of a stone door.]
<GM> Aid: "The door is only opened from within.  Please wait here
until the Contact is ready for you."  [He departs quietly.]
<Charlotte> Surre...
<GM> [After several minutes.  The stone doors slowly open inward,
revealing dim lamplight and cold stone beyond.]  Contact: "Please,
come inside."
* Roland leads the way.
* Charlotte walks!
<GM> [After the party enters the chamber, the stone doors slowly
close behind them with a weighty thud.  A moment later, bolts slide
home within the doors, sealing the chamber.  The room is a cube 30'
on a side lit by faint smokeless orange lamps.  The Contact is
sitting on a throne set into the wall at the far end of the room.]
* Roland advances and kneels before the Contact.
<GM> [Before the throne is an iron ring on an iron stand.  The monk
is circumfixed on the ring through his wrists and ankles.]
<GM> Contact: "Hello Roland."
<Roland> Good day, Contact.
<Charlotte> Ah, hi.
<GM> Contact: "You have done well, Roland.  This one is an
extraordinary specimen."
<Roland> Informative, as well?
<GM> Contact: "Not yet.  It was likely that you and your comrades
would be useful during the interrogation."
<GM> Contact: "We have already ascertained the extent of his
biological aberrations, but have yet to enquire as to how it
happened."
* Skip looks at the monk with a mix of pity and intrigue.
<Roland> How aberrant is he?
<GM> Contact: "He can be slain normally, but regenerates in excess of
a troll's ability to do so.  Further, even after death, his body
continues to recover, requiring at most about one hour to regain
consciousness.  His soul appears to linger during this period as
well."
<Roland> An impressive feat.
* Nyyx listens and nods.
<GM> Contact: "As you may already know, he is held within a Zone of
Truth and his ability to resist has been magically stripped from him.
Although I am certain that this is only temporary.  The interrogation
should be relatively easy."
* Charlotte nods...
<Charlotte> How do you keep him from brekaing out?
<GM> Contact: "He requires leverage to break free.  The circumfixtion
in iron stops that.  He would need to tear his hands and feet off to
escape his bindings."
<Charlotte> Aaah.
<Roland> ...I'm not sure he couldn't do that.
<Charlotte> Yeah....
<Charlotte> He'd just grow them back
<GM> Contact: "Far to slowly to help him.  I have checked."
* Nyyx nods.
<Charlotte> Aah
<Roland> Excellent.
<GM> Contact: "Well, shall we begin?  Alright, prisoner, speak only
to answer our questions.  Answer them fully and truthfully.  Do you
understand?"
<GM> Prisoner: "Yes."
<GM> Contact: "Would the group of you like to begin?"
<Roland> Who was the priestess aiding you?
<GM> Prisoner: "A cleric of Wee Jas named Vivian Archer."
<Roland> She was not a cleric of Wee Jas, as far as my research can
tell, Contact.
<GM> Contact: "I see.  Please continue."
<Roland> How did you become immortal?
<GM> Prisoner: "I am not immortal.  I have died many times."
<Roland> How do you return from death?
<GM> Prisoner: "I do not know the mechanism.  I am not allowed to
move on until my oath is fulfilled."
<Roland> What oath did you take?
<GM> Prisoner: "I swore to end the life of a petty lord."
<Roland> Who was this petty lord?
<GM> Prisoner: "A weak and cowardly individual known as the Oaken
Knight, a Lord Reginald Trevor."
<Nyyx> Hm. Can you tell us more about this Reginald Trevor?
<GM> Prisoner: "Reginald Trevor is the Doughnut King of Evenor."
<GM> ((Scratch that.))
<Nyyx> (( Oi, hahaha. ))
<GM> Prisoner: "Lord Reginald Trevor ruled lands north of this
location some two centuries past.  He attempted to annex a section of
the western mountains for their mineral wealth and attack my
monastery."
<Nyyx> Two centuries past? And he is still alive?
<GM> Prisoner: "Yes.  In a way.  His spawn still draw breath.  Oaths
must be worded very carefully."
<Nyyx> I see. And you say "attempted" - he failed?
<GM> Prisoner: "Where my people failed, the hostility of the climate
and my periodic successes led to the collapse of his household."
* Nyyx nods. "You took this oath for revenge on his attack upon your
monastery?"
<Charlotte> So what's this got to do with working with bandits?
<GM> Prisoner: "Yes."
<GM> Prisoner: "One of his decendants.  One of the last.  Lives in
that camp."
<Charlotte> One of his descendants is a bandit?
<Nyyx> Who or what granted your unnatural condition?
<GM> Prisoner: "One of the descendants, fallen from their high post,
is a logger.  Still trying to get something out of my homeland."
<GM> Prisoner: "Who?  What?  I do not know.  I swore to end his
tyranny.  I fought and was cast off of a mountain.  I awoke and the
monastery was deserted."
* Charlotte frowns.
<Charlotte> His tyranny's over.
<Nyyx> What is this descendant trying to get out of your homeland?
<GM> Prisoner: "Just the lumber for now.  A living, I suppose."
<Skip> To whom did you take your oath?
<GM> Prisoner: "The Lord and Mistress of the Monastery.  Now long
dead."
<Charlotte> So it'd take quite a trick to get them to release you
from your oath.
<Skip> What God do you serve?
<GM> Prisoner: "None."
<GM> Prisoner: "I follow my oath and my masters."
<Nyyx> Tell us about your monastery and your order.
<GM> Prisoner: "It is long dead.  Its ruins are in the mountains to
the west, coated in frost.  I have kept a rendition of the coward's
bloodline fresh on the temple walls these two centuries.  The rest is
cold and dead."
<GM> Prisoner: "The masters worshiped what I learned later was the
god Pelor, under a different name.  The mountain monastery was an
attempt to live closer to his bright ideal."
<Charlotte> Strange...
<Charlotte> I don't think killing a logger is something Pelor would
like
* Nyyx addresses the Contact, "To your knowledge, have you ever heard
of such an oath binding someone to life?"
<GM> Contact: "I am well aware of a Geas spell, but that can itself
kill the victim."
<GM> Contact: "As to bindings that suspend death...."
<GM> [The Contact removes the mask and reveals the face of an old man
missing an eye.]  Contact: "Only the undead are called back in such a
fashion.  Some of them can even return from dissolution."
<Nyyx> The monk is undead, then?
<Charlotte> I don't know...
<GM> [The mask is put back in place.]  Contact: "I do not believe so.
This monk is an aberrant defying expected rules of our world."
<Nyyx> Hmm.
<Skip> He did have undead companions, though. They were commanded by
his cleric companion.
<Nyyx> That is true. Speaking of which, where did you meet your
cleric friend?
<GM> Prisoner: "The cleric found me after I had begun to assemble the
band of bandits."
<Nyyx> Are you certain that she was a cleric of Wee Jas?
<GM> Prisoner: "That is who she appeared to venerate."
* Nyyx turns to her companions. "Do clerics of Wee Jas usually invoke
their power in the infernal tongue?"
<Nyyx> I heard her speaking in Infernal during her last moments, and
she called upon the dead to serve her, binding them by "the old
pacts," whatever that means.
<Charlotte> I'm not sure.
<Roland> Sometimes.
<Roland> Wee Jas likes her prayers orderly, but she's not exactly
picky about how you go about things, if you catch my drift.
<Nyyx> Ah, I see. Her behavior wasn't too unusual, then?
<Roland> Not particularly.  That's why Wee Jas is a popular cover for
unaligned priests of evil.
<GM> Contact: "What exactly happened when she invoked this pact?"
<Nyyx> She disappeared in a cloud of darkness. Roland told us it was
an attempt at planar travel.
<GM> Contact: "I see."
* Skip nods. "She attacked us with an undead bear."
<Nyyx> Two, if I recall, as well as humanoid zombies.
<GM> Contact: "A promising tactic for a necromancer under most
circumstances."
* Skip turns to the prisoner, "Why would a devoted servant of light
keep company with undead beasts?"
<Charlotte> It's downright strange.
<GM> Prisoner: "I serve my oath, not the light.  They were a means to
an end."
<Nyyx> That encrypted journal might help us out once it's decoded.
<GM> Contact: "Journal?"
* Nyyx nods. "We found some books in the cave where the bandits had
been camped. Mostly they were general evil prayerbooks, but one was a
journal written in some sort of code."
<Skip> Prisoner, what is your full name?
<GM> Contact: "I see.  We must make every effort to safely decode the
text."
<GM> Contact: "I would take custody of the books."
<GM> Prisoner: "Khalid.  Brother Khalid of the Risen Sun Monastery."
<Nyyx> Roland, if you will.
<Charlotte> Where was this monastary?
* Roland pulls the notebooks out and offers them to the Contact.
<GM> Prisoner: "In the mountains to the west."
<GM> [The Contact motions to the base of the throne.]
<Charlotte> Hm. Maybe it's worth investigating
<Skip> Where were you when you took your oath?
* Roland sets down the books for later perusal.
<GM> Prisoner: "The monastery."
<Charlotte> Does the building still stand?
<GM> Prisoner: "Yes."
<Charlotte> I see.
<Charlotte> I don't think the answer will really change anythigng,
but do you object to us investigating?
<GM> Prisoner: "No."
<Nyyx> Can you tell us more about the Lord and Mistress of your
monastery that you made your oath to?
<GM> Prisoner: "They exemplified our code of conduct.  They were pure
as morning light and as cold as the passes in winter.  Their word was
law and still is."
<Nyyx> What were their names?
<GM> Prisoner: "The Lord and Mistress of the Risen Sun Monastery was
all I ever knew."
<Skip> What sorts of things did you do for them?
<GM> Prisoner: "I served in the monastery.  I trained.  I cultivated
food on the steppes.  I collected rainwater and cleaned the
monastery."
<Nyyx> Tell us about your code of conduct.
<GM> Prisoner: "Seek the purity of the self through service to the
Monastery.  Protect the Monastery.  Protect the lands around the
Monastery from spoilage and corruption."
<Skip> Tell us about the first time you died.
<GM> Prisoner: "I was trying to stop a band of hired knights from
reaching the Monastery.  My rock trap had sent several of them
plummeting off of the cliffs.  They caught up to me and the last
thing I saw was the sky and them staring down at me as I struck the
earth below.  I woke up and a generation had passed."
<Nyyx> You were dead a while, then. I wonder what incident brought
you back to life.
<GM> Prisoner: "I do not know."
<Nyyx> What did you do when you regained consciousness?
<GM> Contact: "You say that you have lived for some two hundred years
and yet this group was able to haul you before me.  While by no means
weak, you should have been far superior to them by now.  Why have you
not cultivated greater powers and fulfilled your oath?"
<GM> Prisoner: "I returned to the monastery.  Everyone was gone or
dead.  Slowly, I learned that I could not die and realized why.  At
that time, a began my search for the coward's spawn."
<Nyyx> What spurred your realization?
<GM> Prisoner: "I have grown no stronger over the years.  I can
remember the passage of time, but not truly benefit from it.  I vowed
to end the coward's life, not a future version of myself, and that is
what I must do."
<GM> Prisoner: "What else could it have been?"
<Nyyx> I don't know, but it would be a bit of an assumption, wouldn't
it? Why would you be dead a generation before rising again to hunt
down your enemy's spawn?
<Charlotte> Was it really your oath that revived you?
<GM> Prisoner: "It is the only possibility."
<Nyyx> What makes you certain of that?
<Charlotte> What makes you say that?
* Skip turns to the contact, "Contact, is this man of the living, or
is he undead?"
<GM> Contact: "He lives, Murdoc."
<GM> Prisoner: "It is the only possibility."
<Nyyx> I wonder if this is at all related to Gregor's afterlife.
<Charlotte> This took place... how long ago?
<GM> Prisoner: "Two hundred years ago."
<Charlotte> WHen did the stuff about Gregor's afterlife starT?
* Nyyx shakes her head. "I'm afraid we don't really know, Charlotte."
<Nyyx> It would be interesting, though, if all these incidences we
investigate end up beginning 200 years ago.
<GM> Contact: "Certainly."
<GM> Contact: "Do you have any additional questions?"
<Nyyx> Not at this time. We may want to find out about the encoded
journal first.
<GM> Contact: "Of course.  There was also something you asked me to
look into when last we met..."
<Nyyx> Yes, we wanted to learn what we could about the various
aberrations we have discussed, including this monk.
<GM> Contact: "Of course.  I have reviewed my various incarnations
and find very little record of such distortions.  The only truly
remarkable incident is the fact that Brandies Hassad, younger brother
of Palanquin Hassad, was in all likelyhood, a forerunner of the Cult
of the Damacine Golem."
<Nyyx> Oh? That in itself already ties the cult to Gregor, if
indirectly.
<Charlotte> What's that cult?
<Nyyx> It worships the Damacine Golem, a part of which killed a
friend of ours. We know very little else of it.
<GM> Contact: "Apparently a loose confederation of dangerous
constructs."
<GM> Contact: "As to Brute's village, I have heard of a few attacks
on coastal villages as of late.  Likely aquatic creatures controlled
by a magician of some sort from the sound of it.  His village was
either eradicated or it folded into another settlement further
inland, likely near Providence.  There are perhaps a dozen hamlets
that could be searched when Brute has the time."
<GM> Contact: "I will not comment on the nature of the afterlife at
this time.  Any observations would be either too speculative or
beyond what a mortal creature should safely know."
* Nyyx nods gravely.
<GM> Contact: "Further, Stovograd is clearly under seige at this time
by some sort of plague.  The Seven Temples have quarantined the city
and sent divisions to investigate, but our power thins that far from
home."
<GM> Contact: "Lastly, the journal of Palanquin Hassad will remain in
my possession indefinitely.  Please do not discuss its contents with
anyone.  Roland, you are specifically admonished to prevent such an
act."
* Nyyx nods again.
<GM> Contact: "While you should not discuss the contents of the
journal, should you see anyone exhibiting abilities similar to those
discussed in the book, it would be a boon to us all if you were to
interdict them."
<GM> Contact: "Do you have any other questions?"
<Skip> Are you or your master concerned with the safety of this
world?
<GM> Contact: "Please refine your question Murdoc lest I be insulted
by the implication that we would not be concerned with unnecessary
loss of life."
* Skip thinks for a moment. "Well, from everything that we have
witnessed in Kronnenburg and elsewhere, it would seem that the world
is in a lot of trouble. Magicians creating demiplanes, vampires
causing plagues. Are the Gods and their servants worried in a larger
sense? Not just for one life, but all life in the world?"
<Charlotte> Are we the only adventuring party running around trying
to fix this stuff?
<GM> Contact: "That is a fair question Murdoc.  It is my role to
always be concerned and at this time, this age, while seemingly busy
with danger, is little more dangerous than any other.  I intend to
keep it that way with your help."
<GM> Contact: "The Seven Temples have mobilized to counter-act the
plague in Stovograd already and my agents will investigate this
monastery and the Cult of the Damacine Golem."
* Charlotte nods
<Nyyx> Where do you think our efforts will be most fruitful at this
time?
<GM> "You can serve the Seven Temples best in Stovograd."
* Nyyx nods. "And this monastery to the west - do you think it would
be worth investigating?"
<GM> Contact: "Yes.  I will send an expedition."
<Charlotte> I thinkw e can handle the plague better now that we have
a spellcasting priest with us.
<Nyyx> We will head for Stovograd next, then.
* Skip looks to the imprisoned monk. "I think we share a fate with
this man. He seems to be a pawn, caught up in something he does not
understand." Skip looks to the Contact, "I do not want to end up like
him. I hope those we serve will watch over us and give us some
control over the forces that carry us from one danger to another."
* Skip bows to the Contact, "Thank you for the information."
<GM> Contact: "Thank you for your continued assistance."
<GM> Contact: "Roland?"
<Roland> Yes?
<GM> Contact: "Please step forward."
* Roland steps forward dutifully.
<GM> Contact: "Extend your right hand, palm forward."
* Roland does so.
<GM> [The pale figure of the Contact stands and points a thin finger
at Roland.]  Contact: "In recognition to your service to our order, I
hereby grant you the Eye of Boccob."  [Lightning arcs from the
figures finger and enters Rolands hand.]  Contact: "I expect great
things from you."
<Roland> I will do my best, though not always with the people present
at this time.
<GM> [Rolands right palm is now marked with the Eye of Boccob.]
* Charlotte watches. o.o
<GM> Contact: "I am certain of that.  Should you continue to succeed,
your echo will be invited to live within myself forever."
* Roland bows deeply.
<GM> Contact: "Please travel to Stovograd with all haste."
<Nyyx> Yes, of course.
<GM> [The doors open.]
* Nyyx bows to the Contact and takes her leave.
* Skip follows behind Nyyx.
<GM> [As the party leaves, the doors begin to close behind them.  The
last thing they see in the faint light is the Contact approaching
Khalid.]
* Charlotte walks along
<GM> [The party is escorted back to the street in several short
minutes and prepares to travel to Stovograd.]
* Charlotte is escorted!
* Skip looks back at the Boccobite temple. "I pity the monk. He was
only ever doing what he promised." Skip turns back to his comrades.
"If I had not found Greycloak at Gregor's castle, I could have met a
similar fate." Skip starts to walk back to the inn, his chin low and
his arms tightly folded across his chest.
* Nyyx raises an eyebrow at Skip. "I don't think he was completely
innocent, Skip. Don't forget that he tried to kill us, twice."
* Skip nods and cheers up a bit. "That is true. I think he chose to
be ignorant. Just following orders, I think they say. I'd like to
think I'm better than that."
<Nyyx> We're not even entirely certain it was the oath that caused
the aberration, though he clearly thinks that's the cause.
<Charlotte> Yeah.
<Charlotte> If something darker revived him.... well, I'm wondering
why.
<Skip> But who knows, maybe if he had had friends like I do, things
would have been different for him. Anyway, I think it's time I
confronted this plague. With all of you with me, I'm no longer so
afraid of going home.
* Charlotte nods
* Nyyx nods. "We'll get to the root of the plague, Skip."
<GM> [The party walks into the afternoon fog quietly.]
<GM> [End of Session.]
Session Close: Sat Oct 13 23:10:15 2007