Session Start: Sat Mar 29 17:28:15 2008
Session Ident: #castlevania
<Holmes> [The intrepid party continues its meeting with the Jasian
cleric.]
<Holmes> [The party spends the afternoon in a shady spot about a mile
from the Temple Camp with Biff and Gorish's awakened zombie retainer
tied to a tree.]
<Holmes> [After several hours of practice, Biff thinks he has the
theory of enchanting undead.  A few hours of book research and he
should be able to convert his entire repetoir over to affect the
walking dead.]
<Holmes> [Torchlight sparkles from the camp as evening falls.]  
* Biff sighs in content. "Hey Nyyxie. You know what the only thing
more fun than inciting a riot is?"
<Nyyx> What?
<Biff> Inciting a riot among creatures that are supposed to be immune
to my favorite spell ever.
* Biff curls up in Nyyx's lap.
* Nyyx laughs. "I guess that means your research was successful."
<Biff> Not yet, but I've got the hardest part.
<Nyyx> Good. That could come in useful later.
<Nyyx> It would've been pretty interesting if you'd had a chance to
use it on the horde of zombies under the tower, earlier.
<Biff> Nah.
<Nyyx> Nah?
<Biff> Wouldn't have done anything.  No minds there to affect.
<Biff> You got two kinds of undead.
<Biff> Some undead can think.  They just think different.
<Biff> Some undead, they just got nothing there.
<Biff> They're like...
<Biff> ...like machines.
<Nyyx> Ah. That's right. That's too bad.
<Holmes> Retainer: "That is unfair, Master Biff.  We are all
machines.  Only some of you do not accept that fact."
* Nyyx chuckles.
<Holmes> Retainer: "Now, please untie me.  We should be getting
back."
* Nyyx goes to untie the retainer. "Thank you for your help."
<Holmes> Retainer: "I live to serve."
<Biff> You been a great help.
* Skip stands and stretches. "I don't know about the rest of you, but
I could use some dinner."
<Biff> You need a favor from me, you just come ask.
<Biff> I know how you feel, Skip.  I could eat a dire rat right about
now.
<Holmes> [The party wanders back to camp, wondering what is for
supper.]
<Nyyx> How does dire rat taste, anyway?
<Biff> Depends on how you cook it.
<Biff> Raw, it's terrible.  Disease ridden, too.
<Nyyx> Hm. I might be glad I haven't tasted that one.
<Biff> Rats are nasty things.  Dunno how my family stood eating them.
<Nyyx> If I may ask, is the rest of your family sentient, as you
are...?
<Biff> Mom and pop, but they weren't always.  I was the only one of
my litter that came out something other than stupid.
<Nyyx> It can be inherited, then?
* Biff shrugs a catty shrug.
<Biff> We'll probably never know if I was just a fluke or not.
<Nyyx> Hmm, I see.
* Nyyx looks around for Skip at the dining area.
<Biff> A couple of my siblins got called up as familiars.  The rest
pretty much went into the family business.
<Nyyx> Mousing?
<Biff> Yeah.
* Nyyx nods.
<Holmes> [The camp is settled down for dinner.  Refugees sit with
Temple personnel chatting about the meeting and what it may portend.
It looks like stew is the meal of choice this evening, although the
druids seem to be sticking to rations...]
* Skip helps himself to the stew.
* Nyyx gets herself some stew and sits down by Skip.
<Holmes> [It is quite good.  Local herbs and well-cooked fowl.]
<Skip> Mousing. I guess you could say I was a mouser of sorts.
* Nyyx raises an eyebrow at Skip. "Have you had dire rat?"
* Biff gets himself a bowl of stew and carefully picks out bits of
meat. Thank the Lady for convenience magic.
* Skip blushes. "Well. I was homeless for a time. Wandering around
and all. Beggars can't be choosers."
<Nyyx> Would you agree with Biff that it's terrible?
<Skip> Oh, I wouldn't say that. If you cook up with some herbs, it
tastes like chicken.
* Nyyx wrinkles her nose. "Somehow, I'm doubting that statement."
<Holmes> [Given the crowd gathering, the meeting is likely to be in
the central tent.]
* Nyyx wolfs down her stew quickly, finishes off the non-meat portion
of Biff's. "Ready?"
<Biff> Yeah.  Too bad I'm pretty much tapped out.
* Skip wipes his mouth with his deathstrike bracer. "I am."
* Nyyx heads for the central tent.
<Holmes> [The large central tent were the party first met the
commanders when they entered the camp not so long ago is a hive of
activity.]
* Nyyx looks around for a place to stand (or sit) where she can still
see.
<Holmes> [For the first time since the party arrived, representatives
of all seven temples are present at once.  Refugees crowd around to
try to steal a glimpse inside the tent as guards try to maintain
order.]
* Demota has joined #Castlevania
<Holmes> [The party moves to the front and is let through by a few
Kordites from the raid on Stavograd.]
* Skip nods to the helpful Kordites.
<Holmes> [Inside the tent, representatives from the Seven Temples,
Stavograd and the druids all wait for the call to order.]
* Nyyx follows along silently.,
<Holmes> [After about twenty minutes of waiting and random smalltalk
with those present, the meeting is called to order by an older
gentleman in a white robe.]
<Holmes> Speaker: "We have been called together tonight to discuss
the future of the city of Stavograd.  I call this meeting to Order."
<Holmes> Speaker: "I would like to thank all of you for attending
tonight and particularly those who served in the developments of last
night.]
<Holmes> "
<Holmes> Speaker: "The city of Stavograd now lies in ruins with a
full three-quarters of its population either dead or missing.  We are
to decide what should happen next."
* Nyyx whispers very quietly to Biff and Skip, "It's the Pelorian
Contact...but he looks much older than I remember him from a month
and a half or so ago."
<Biff> Yeah.  Let's hope he doesn't notice me.
<Nyyx> You have a beef with him?
<Biff> Nah.
<Biff> But he might have one with me.
* Nyyx nods. "Feel free to hide under my cloak."
* Nyyx is now known as NyyxFOOD
<Holmes> Gorish: "Well, that is quite simple really.  This city
clearly needs the assistance of the Seven Temples to rebuild and
restore the lives of those who remain.  To that end, the Clergy of
Nerull pledges its strength."
<Holmes> Arrus: "Of course it does.  What is needed here is time to
heal, not funeral dirges.  The Pelorian Church should, and I
apologize if I overstep Honored Contact, shine the light of our lord
to this far shore."
<Holmes> Sirrus: "You have all done more than enough already."
* Biff curls up on Nyyx's lap and tries to take a nap.
<Holmes> Kordite: "We should help where possible, but this is the
people's challenge to face.  If some of them want to return north
with us, the offer is open."
* Biff is now known as Roland
<Roland> Whatever help the city needs is beyond the point.  For any
clergy to attempt to claim the city for their own is folly.
* Skip is now known as RudyFOOD
<Roland> It should be apparent that if we are to have any positive
effect at all, it is necessary that none of us attempt to claim the
city.  Attempting otherwise will result in chaos, and could drag the
entire temple compact down with it.
<Holmes> Gorish: "We make no such claim, good Boccobite."
<Holmes> Gorish: "We only offer support."
<Holmes> Jasian: "And I would certainly favor the opportunity to
study the 'unique' effects present in this area.  The domnii are
quite interesting, for example."
<Roland> Good.  We are content to provide our services, including
setting up a teleportation circle to connect this city to the others.
<Holmes> Arrus: "That is an excellent suggestion.  Is such a thing
even possible at this point?  I was under the impression that one of
the effects around the city interupted scrying and teleportation."
<Roland> If necessary, the circle can be set up outside the city
limits.
<Roland> Magic will always find a way.
* RudyFOOD is now known as RudFood
<Holmes> Sirrus: "All of this is minor compared to the long term
future of this city.  The pall cast by the Stone Dragon has not left.
I, among others, have awakened from our comas, but whatever that
monster did to us and to the city will not vanish so easily."
<Holmes> Jasian: "All the more reason for us to remain, mylady."
<Roland> The problem has been resolved.
<Roland> Whatever effects linger will fade over time.
<Holmes> Speaker: "What brings you to that conclusion, Brother
Roland?"
<Roland> I was asked by Lady Natalia to divine the final fate of the
cause of the problems.
<Roland> It has been confirmed as destroyed. 
<Holmes> Speaker: "So the cause is dead and gone."
<Holmes> Speaker: "Please show the Mercykiller in."
<Holmes> [Several guards depart and return after half of a minute
with His Emminent Remains.  He is still holding the staff he summoned
yesterday and has replaced his traveling clothes with the robes of a
Nerullian cleric.]
<Holmes> [The clerics of Pelor and Heironeous visibly bristle as he
approaches the center of the room, keeping a safe distance from the
Contact.]
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "I was not certain that your presence would not
strike me down on the spot, Contact."
<Holmes> Contact: "It may still, Mercykiller."
<Holmes> Contact: "Tell us what you know."
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "The creature known as the Stone Dragon was caused
by the activities of Gregor the Red, magus and theurge."
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "Gregor the Red has accelerated the spontaneous
creation of undead entities in this region.  It is only as a result
of this that a being as powerful as the Stone Dragon could have been
called back."
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "While its emergence was not anticipated, I was sent
to Stavograd to investigate and dispatch the creature if it appeared
to be a threat."
* RudFood has quit IRC (Quit: RudFood)
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "Gregor has clearly lost control of the situation
and it must be brought under Temple control."
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "To that end, I am going to depart for Lifebreak,
assemble a squad of necromancers, and find where Gregor has hidden
himself in the jungles to the south."
<Holmes> Contact: "What does Gregor hope to accomplish with his
meddling?"
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "At first I thought that he wished to carve out a
place for the undead in this world.  Where creatures like myself
could be left alone.  He is willing to sacrifice everyone around him
to see his goals fulfilled.  I will not be killed and neither... I
will not let that happen."
<Holmes> Contact: "I suspect that this Gregor's plans run far deeper
than we can see.  Suggestions?"
<Roland> We do have present a party that already has good reason to
go into the southern jungle.
* NyyxFOOD is now known as Nyyx
* Nyyx listens to all of this carefully. "Yes, we have been asked to
investigate the jungle, and where Gregor is concerned, I think we all
have some unfinished business."
* Rudyard has joined #castlevania
* Rudyard is now known as Skip
<Holmes> Contact: "As I could imagine."
<Nyyx> I would, for one, be willing to strike out for the southern
jungle and look into what's happened there.
* Skip steps forward. "I am also willing to go. The southern jungles
are my birthplace. I would like to see them restored and thriving."
<Holmes> Gorish: "Restored?"
* Skip nods. "When I left my southern brothers and sisters of the
Panther Tribe, they were all but lost to a foreign plague. The
sickness was created by riders employed by none other than Gregor the
Red."
<Skip> A similar illness was reportedly affecting Elfish tribes in
the area as well.
<Holmes> Contact: "So he has gone to reap what he has sown.  You have
the blessing of the Seven Temples in your quest.  The squads here
will remain to help rebuild the city in the short term.  We will
provide whatever aid we can and of course, you will be welcome here."
* Nyyx nods. "Thank you."
* Roland is now known as Biff
<Biff> Wait, what?  Where the heck are we going?
<Biff> I thought I heard someone say plague.
<Nyyx> Skip's homeland, the southern jungles. It was ravaged by a
plague not long ago.
<Biff> Who's supplying all the cure diseases we're gonna need?
<Biff> Jungles are filthy.
<Nyyx> Roland, will you be joining us?
<Biff> <Roland> I go where Boccob directs, Lady Natalia.  There is
really no telling.
* Skip looks to Roland, "You should come with us, Sir Roland. My
people need help, and you are very helpful."
* Nyyx nods. "We will have Amarette with us, though."
<Biff> <Roland> I am only as helpful as Boccob will allow.  It may
happen that I am... passing through the area, however.
<Biff> * Roland smiles a little.
<Holmes> Contact: "As you will.  If there is no more business,
everyone is dismissed."
* Nyyx bows. "I hope it ends up Boccob sees it fit for you to join
us, Roland."
<Biff> <Roland> I as well, Lady Natalia.
<Holmes> [The Temple personnel begin to file out.  The Druids are
noticably uncomfortable but leave without saying anything.]
<Holmes> [H.E.R. approaches the party.]
* Nyyx inclines her head in acknowledgement toward H.E.R.
<Holmes> H.E.R.: "I will see all of you in the jungles.  I am going
to find your mother, Nyxx."
<Holmes> [H.E.R. turns and strides out of the room.]
<Biff> You have a mother?
* Nyyx says nothing and watches him leave.
* Nyyx nods absently. "Yes. I didn't really know her, though."
<Nyyx> She's apparently allied with Gregor now.
<Biff> Huh.  
<Nyyx> A disciple of his, even.
<Holmes> Contact: "Good luck to all of you.  We will be sending our
own people as well, but I suspect that you are our best chance at
getting to the bottom of all of this before it is too late.  Please
hurry."
<Nyyx> Thank you, sir. We will make haste.
* Nyyx bows again and heads out of the tent.
* Skip bows to the Contact, "Please pray for us. That is, if that's
what you do. Or...." Skip looks around uncomfortable, bows again, and
follows Nyyx.
<Holmes> [END OF SESSION]
Session Close: Sat Mar 29 22:49:36 2008