Session Start: Sat Jul 05 17:41:08 2008 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The party finds itself in a dark chamber at the bottom of a set of rough earthen stairs. A great diseased beast is chained to the floor of the chamber and Gregor the Red stands at the creature's bloated head.] * Nyyx stands looking up at Gregor, her sword in her hands and her expression neutral. Good evening. * Biff mutters into Nyyx's ear, "Bet a bottle of fine wine that he leaves us to fight that thing while he runs off." Gregor: "Is it? I haven't been topside in days. Safe journey, Natalia?" * Olivia glances to Nyyx a moment, since there's very few people in the group that could be 'granddaughter', and then back to looking towards Gregor and his pet big dude. She's got a thin-lipped frown on her face. * Nyyx smiles grimly at Biff's comment and mutters through her teeth, "I'm certain I'd be down a bottle of good drink if I bet otherwise." Safe journey? I didn't realize you were inclined to humor, Gregor. Gregor: "Then it was difficult. I see. From the creature with you, I see you have met some of the infected." Gregor: "You didn't fight some of them, did you?" * Biff laughs. We only fought one of them. The rest fought each other. Let me tell you, that whole "shooting acid blood out of their eyes" thing? Genius. Pure genius. Gregor: "Thank you. That would be Simon's handiwork though. So, what is your opinion of all of this? I certainly hope that you have taken our time apart to consider your place in the order of things." Our place hasn't changed. We're still trying to stop the destruction you've caused. * Biff mock-whispers to Nyyx, "OUr place is killing him, right?" * Nyyx sighs. What is there left to consider? [Now, Gregor sighs.] Gregor: "There is always more to consider, Natalia. There is always new insight. I know that you have had the opportunity to travel since your time in Kronenburg. I had hoped that you had broadened your horizons." Yes. I've had creatures spit acid blood out their eyes at me and seen slithering boneless elf bodies left over from your fancy plague. How was any of that supposed to convince us to join your cause? Gregor: "First, acid blood is not the worst thing you have seen a creature do, I am certain. Second, the infected were an unintended side effect of Greycloak's... the plague. If anything, the fact that it could mutate so wildly is only further justification for my actions." And how is that? * Skip is now known as SkipFOOD * Nyyx is now known as Nyyxfeed Gregor: "Do you honestly thing that Greycloak... could have ever managed to intentionally create such a thing? Or that I could have caused the terror in Stavograd? Or whatever happened in the north? No, we are being tampered with." Gregor: "Granted, my own actions have accelerated the process, but it is happening nonetheless and getting faster." You just said a whole lot of words there. But all I heard was "First, you gotta kill me, then, you gotta kill someone else." Gregor: "But who, little cat? Can you find them in time?" * Olivia sighs slightly and replies, "This certainly wouldn't be considered 'helping us find them in time', would it?" Maybe. Maybe not. But you know what? I don't think I care, because at least you'll be dead. Gregor: "I don't even think that I have met you, cat... Where does all of this rancor come from that you won't even listen?" Your buddy upstairs was WAY too talky and it's got my dander up. Also, listening to villains is bad for your health, that's what my mama always said. Gregor: "Well, he does like to preach I suppose. Villain? Right. Why am I the villain?" Because you ran a castle of the dead and terrorized a town for your own amusement. Because your minions have consistently fucked up everything around them. Gregor: "My own amusement? That's what you think?" Gregor: "My minions? Where? Who?" * SkipFOOD has quit IRC (Quit: SkipFOOD) Oh, I had assumed you had enough toys to be amused. Most of all, though, you're the villain because we're the heroes, and we say you're the villain. And if you're not, we'll apologize to your corpse and move on to the next guy. Gregor: "And where do you expect that to get you?" Rolling in treasure and babes? Fine, if you are not the villain we believe you to be, why did you run a castle powered by the undead? Gregor: "To make the black stone." And what did you need the black stone for? Man, I hope you don't get all self-righteous when I keep a few dozen undead servants around MY castle. Gregor: "The black stone is concentrated potential. All of those souls, blocked from the afterlife, wrung out of their dreams of a second life and purified into potential." That is what it does. Not why you needed it. * Nyyxfeed is now known as Nyyx Gregor: "That stone can be the basis of nearly anything. It has changed the world just by existing. It will be the start of a new afterlife. A new means by which to anchor this world to the rest of the planes." So you totally won't mind if we kill you and blow it to itty bitty pieces. And again, that is what it does. Not why you need it. Gregor: "You are welcome to try to destroy it, cat. Not only do you not even know how, but you likely don't even know where it is." I'm a cat, buddy. Getting to places you don't want me to be is why I exist. So how about we dispense with all this jibba jabba and get to the throwdown, the showdown? Gregor: "What? Is that what you want?" Talking to you is really kinda boring. You're like the guy upstairs, but not as bright. Gregor: "What do you have to say, Natalia?" * Nyyx shrugs. "Care to hand over the cure to this accidentally mutated plague you caused?" Gregor: "Cure? Strangely, the plague itself is the cure. Once it changed, it stopped spreading normally. Of course, that doesn't help those already stricken. And... I wonder if you noticed the most important part." And what's that? Gregor: "The animals. Were you ever attacked by normal predators along your way in the jungle? You weren't, were you. Did you ever run into areas where you did not even hear insects? Why did you assume that Greycloak... was targeting the elves and halflings with his plague." Actually, we were. Gregor: "If he was doing that, wouldn't he has set the plague loose further north? No, we were targeting the fauna." How does that make anything better? So your plan has failed. So you are playing a god, basically. * Charlotte has joined #Castlevania Gregor: "Perhaps it does make it better, depending upon who you ask. And yes, the way you mean it, I guess I am playing god." Gregor: "All I meant was that it largely served its purpose and then, mysteriously stopped spreading." * Nyyx stands impassively and waits for further explanation. Gregor: "As for a cure? I doubt that it's effects can be reversed. The most that could be done is that its pull could be removed from some of the afflicted. That might stop any degeneration or allow them to die properly..." So you decided you would just kill thousands of people as a minor side effect of what you wanted? Oh, yeah, that doesn't make you evil or anything. Gregor: "Alright, guilty as charged. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't the right thing to do, does it? I needed you to complete the stone, and afterward, hoped that you would be willing to help. You refused and then went and did exactly as I asked anyway. Why can't you do a little more?" You expect us to help you? Are you serious? Gregor: "Perfectly. Although I'll understand if you would rather not, I had hoped to end up on the same side once I realized my daughter's daughter was with you." Man, how can you say that with a straight face? Gregor: "Years of undeath help." Not all children follow in their parents' footsteps. My parents were actually respectable townsfolk. Gregor: "Okay." Unless you've got something better than my parentage on your bargaining table, you can forget it. Yeah, maybe he's my grandfather, too. * Nyyx smirks. "So. Are we done?" Gregor: "I understand. It was only a courtesy anyway. Children..." [Gregor begins to cast a spell.] What are you doing? * Theodore casts daylight * Theodore casts daylight on his quarterstaff [As Theodore brings light into the chamber, the party gets a full view of its surroundings in normal vision for the first time. The giant is a wheezing mess of damaged tissue some twenty-five feet long. Gregor stands at its head in soiled red robes, his face stained pitch black and eyes swollen and red.] Eew! * Biff runs forward, sprouts a pair of glowing white wings, and from them lance out hundreds of tiny darts of light to spear Gregor in a hundred places. * Charlotte reaches for her bow and fires off three arrows. One of them strikes him and dissolves into acid. * Skip leaps into the air and disappears into a puff of black shadow. He immediately reappears in front of Gregor and swings one jewel-encrusted handaxe at the fleeing villain's torso. Unfortunately, he misjudges the distance and fails to connect. * Olivia does that vanishing thing again. Does this woman do anything but vanish? * Nyyx eyes Gregor evenly and suddenly blurs through the air and over the evil-smelling giant. She flips forward, her adamantine sword whistling as it arcs forward and cleaves downward, deeply, into the juncture between Gregor's shoulder and neck. Sorry, old man. I can't say I'm too attached to your side of the family. [Gregor screams as the spell he was attempting to complete fails. Ichor pours from his injuries.] Gregor: "SIMON! SEND IT DOWN!" [Gregors scream shakes the room as the giant joins in with a terrible roar.] [Ichor erupts from the creature as Gregor lunges to attack Nyyx...] [END OF SESSION.] Session Close: Sat Jul 05 21:54:48 2008