Session Start: Sat Aug 02 18:29:04 2008 Session Ident: #castlevania Maybe we can breka the lock * Olivia sideglances at Charlotte, then says, "Someone who worships Boccob shouldn't be telling other people to think less... but if you want to open it, why aren't you trying to open it?" She keeps a half-smile on her face as she pulls some picks out of her pack to get it open. Wait, who worships Boccob? * Olivia picks the lock with ease before stepping back to slip the picks away. "Me, kitty." She looks over her shoulder at Biff and smiles. "Did blowing up that room shake up your brain?" A little. it was a big explosion, and I am a small cat. [The door swings inward with a grind of stone on stone. The gnome hesitantly stumbles toward the door shaking.] Gnome: "Thank you! Who are you? We have to get out of here!" Yeah, yeah, you can go if you want. Just avoid the everything-eating plants upstairs. I'm Charlotte Dorin. There are still more prisoners. I' think it'd be best to stick together until we've got everoyne accounted for. Though we could set up a meeting spot. Gnome: "Sorry, but I'm leaving. Which way is out?" * Olivia points up and out with her dagger hand, because she's helpful. "Good luck!" * Charlotte tells him the way out. "JUst remember that we'll be releasing more. They'll be on their way up. Maybe you could work together and find a safe place to stay for longer." [The gnome darts down the hall. It moves much too quickly for a normal gnome.] Poor guy. * Nyyx watches the supernaturally fast gnome disappear. "I hope this isn't a mistake." It's all we can do. I'm sure he's got quite a career as an adventurer awaiting him. [The party continues down the hall. At each door, they stop, evaluate the prisoner and if they feel it's safe, Olivia quickly unlocks the door. Soon, a dozen or more humanoids have run upstairs and as many more have been left in their cells to starve. Some of them start screaming and pounding on the doors to no avail.] [The party proceeds upstairs into the fleshplant chamber.] Let's get rid of this thing. Anyone want the honors? * Olivia shakes her head. Theodore? I'm running a little low on the fire and brimstone. Theo? * Theodore casts fireball [Theodore begins coating the walls and floors with fire. Soon, the 'plants' have caught and are burning well. The room quickly fills with deep black smoke that smells like burning pig.] [The party quickly moves upstairs and leaves the twitching burning abominations behind.] [Past the stairs, the party enters the room with a half dozen water tanks.] * Charlotte eyes the water tanks suspiciously Shall we destroy these, too? Meh. May as well, if someone's got the means. it'll hinder anybody who wants to use this place. Theo, do you still have enough fire to spare? just be ready to run. * Nyyx nods. * Nyyx moves toward the exit. * Charlotte gets moving [The party exits the ruins as Theodore burns out the tanks in the entryway. The jungle beyond is dark under the moonless night.] THink they'll be okay? * Nyyx shrugs. "I hope so." I'm more worried about what's happened to the water Gregor drowned in. [A few of the prisoners have chosen to follow the party, but most have fled into the jungle.] What, you think he'll turn the river evil? Maybe. * Olivia shakes her head. "That's... unlikely, I think." I hope you're right. * Nyyx starts back toward the lake. Amarette: "We need to check." Yeah [The party wanders toward the lake and away from the temple. The jungle is silent.] Last thing we need is a coastal army of vampiraguin. that would be the least threatening army ever. Necro-toa? I don't know, I'm a priest, not an etymologist. * Olivia wipes her forehead and glances over at Charlotte a moment, before saying, "I just hope that changed more than the number of vampires in the world. Especially with that giant dead." [After about an hour, the party reaches the edge of the lake. The black depths of the water churn and flow slugishly toward the sea.] * Nyyx bends down by the lake and sniffs the water cautiously, keeping an eye out for any crocodiles or other suspicious movement. (Because it's dark, or because it's actually black?) Amarette: "Let me take a look." [Amarette wanders out toward the water and then tentatively steps in.] Amarette: "You don't need to worry about being attacked. There aren't any living creature in this jungle, remember." What happened to the ones moving in the water before we entered the temple? Amarette: "They had the good sense to leave. I don't need to get wet anymore." [Amarette waves her hand and steps up to the water's surface. She moves toward the center of the river.] Amarette: "Biff, how did Gregor die?" He dissolved into black sludge. Amarette: "I see. His clothes and bones are still at the bottom here. Let me look." Hey, nifty. [Amarette stops, starring over the water for a long moment.] * Nyyx watches thoughtfully. Amarette: "He's backstage. He's still here." What? * Nyyx blinks. "What do you mean?" * Nyyx rubs her face. "Don't tell me we killed a decoy." Amarette: "He is a classic theurge. He uses sympathy like it's a toy." [Amarette scratches her head.] "He's so reckless." Why do you say that? You're gonna have to explicate a bit, toots. Amarette: "All of his magic is based in thaumaturgical sympathy. He links things together so that one can be used to control the other. Creatures, souls, buildings. It's part of why wizards use foci and spell components." Amarette: "Gregor takes it a step further. He links things to himself." Amarette: "I think we can show you. Get ready." Uh... ready for what [Amarette begins to invoke a spell similar to the shadow teleport but far more complex. The temperature in the area begins to drop.] [As Amarette continues, the air loses its scent and the temperature becomes bittingly cold. Frost begins to form on the nearby plantlife and ice appears on the river.] Uh... What's going on? I may not be a wizard like the Eggman over there, but I do NOT like this. [With a crack, a layer of ice solidifies on the river surface and Amarette's skin begins to split and bleed. She drops to one knee as the spell is finished.] Uh... are you okay? Amarette: "See, he's right here." ...what the hell? Here? Amarette: "Come here." * Biff walks up beside Amarette. * Olivia walks over as well, because it's the cool thing to do. "Do ya need to be healed? Or are you just going to do that again in a minute or two?" [When Biff walks up to Amarette, he can see that her face is covered in blood. There is a figure under the ice.] So, what, he dodged the water? Amarette: "While I would appreciate the help, you cannot reverse this damage." Amarette: "No Biff, he died. His body is gone, but he still has a presence back here." [Amarette reaches into her robes and withdraws a dagger. She begins hacking at the ice.] This isn't good... Uh, how about you back off and let us burn that ice off, toots? Amarette: "Alright." [She retreats.] * Olivia frowns a bit. "Are we going to fight him again? Here?" No clue. * Biff fires off a couple small fire spells into the ice over Gregor. * Nyyx draws her sword in anticipation, momentarily glancing in suppressed alarm at Amarette's bleeding face. "I don't know what the hell happened, but we need to finish this." [The ice steams away around where Amarette was digging.] [Gregor's face floats up to the surface of the water. The hole is not even large enough for his shoulders. His pale face appraises the party silently.] * Nyyx approaches the melted ice and Gregor apprehensively. She doesn't say a word. Eegh Amarette: "Hello Gregor." Gregor: "Hello. Why don't you come closer so I can get a proper look at you?" * Nyyx stands what she considers to be a safe distance away, where she can see Gregor but where she's not too close to the edge of the dissolved ice. "How is it that you're still here?" Gregor: "Still here, Nyyx? I have always been here. Perhaps if you had listened to me, you would have expected this. You know, there are some others here to. We are going to get out, I promise." * Nyyx frowns deeply. Amarette: "When the black stone was created, Gregor's demiplane was linked to him and the plane of shadow. While he was destroyed, here, his link to everything touched by the black stones lets him linger." * Nyyx continues to frown and says quietly, "And we're touched by the black stones, aren't we?" Amarette: "He planned to use the stone to cause a fundamental change in the world with himself at the center. To the extent that he has succeeded, he cannot be truly killed." Well isn't that just peachy. So how do we keep him from harming the world, at least/ It's a good thing I do six impossible things before breakfast. Amarette: "Yes, Nyyx. All of you, the city of Stavograd, the restless dead, the town of Kronenburg..." * Nyyx sighs. * Olivia runs her fingers over the bridge of her nose. "It's a good trick." Gregor: "I AM NOT HARMING THE WORLD!" [He pounds on the ice from beneath.] "It is either this or death! Which is worse? Would another take my place? Would you? Would you even know how you patricide?" SHUT YOUR WORTHLESS MOUTH, YOU ANACHRONISTIC MONKEY. The world is not yours to save or damn on a whim, and we don't give a damn what the hell you think. [Gregor is stunned.] * Nyyx grits her teeth. * Olivia gives Biff an odd glance, then looks back to Gregor. "He's got a point. Even the gods haven't been quite so presumptuous in quite a while." Better for the entire world to die than to live with you as a god. Gregor: "Did you ever wonder why? Did you ever wonder why they won't save us?" I don't care. I don't need anybody to save me. I can save myself. and if necessary, I'll save everybody else. Gregor: "I see." * Nyyx nods. "I'm with Biff." Gregor: "You don't know how." We don't need to. We'll find a way, the same way we always do. Through blind luck and bullheaded stubbornness. "We are going to get out of here. We'll beat you to it." [A dull thud sounds beneath Nyyx. Then another.] And I'll give you ten to one that I find a way to kill you by the time the story ends. Gregor: "I'm already dead. All of use are dead. Try another one." * Nyyx looks down at her feet for the source of the thuds. [The ice under Nyyx begins to creak.] * Olivia glances to Amarette. "Are we going to ice him back over, or just put him back?" [Nyyx sees a spidery hand under the ice.] Amarette: "We haven't moved him anywhere important. When the spell ends, he will be trapped again." * Nyyx backs away from the hand and raises her sword. * Olivia half-smiles and looks down at him. "So this is nothing but a show." [The hand breaks through and then retreats. Nyyx's own face emerges from the ice.] "Hello Nyyx." Gregor: "Something like that. Maybe a dream. Or an experiment. We'll see. I wonder..." [Gregor disappears under the water.] End the spell. Amarette: "What?" * Nyyx 's eyes widen. "What--?" [A withered face emerges from the water. It looks like someone made a shrunken head into a puppet.] What's going on? * Olivia looks at the head and chuckles, before punning, "Nothing but head games." * Nyyx frowns again and points the sword toward her duplicate's face. * Biff backs off the ice. End the spell, Amarette. He's up to something. * Nyyx slowly steps backward toward the shore as well. [Amarette begins to chant.] * Charlotte backs off Shrunken Head: "Every one of us you kill makes us stronger." [It is Greycloak's voice rising from the head.] "Estivan..." Nyyx: "You should have been me, Natalia and made your mother proud." [The Nyyx under the ice bares the full fangs and red eyes of a vampire.] * Nyyx narrows her eyes. "I think not." [With a bang, the air temperature returns to normal. The ice melts in a wave as the party breaks into a run for the shore and Amarette continues to float on the surface.] [The only sound is Amarette's blood dripping into the gurgling river as she walks back toward the party.] You... need medical help. Won't work. It's the sort of thing only time can heal. The shadows exact a price for calling on them. So, uh, who wants to swim down and grab Gregor's gear? Amarette: "True. I expect you have questions." How much do you know? * Nyyx glances at Biff. "I can do it, if you'd like." Amarette: "Most everything..." Can you tell us all of it? * Rudyard is now known as Skip Amarette: "I think that it is probably time for that, yes. I think you need to meet my sponsor. And get the spy in our group to show itself." [Amarette walks over to Biff's ride and knocks on the mask] "Wake up or I'll break you." [The eyes on the mask begin to glow.] Mask: "How long have you known?" Amarette: "Are you kidding? The Lady of Secrets would never use a walking corpse as her chorus." * Olivia blinks at Amarette's statements, then looks over at the mask. "...Really?" Mask: "Really. I am one of the chorus of Wee Jas." * Nyyx blinks. Biff, did you know about this? * Biff raises one paw and sorta wiggles it. "Eeeh. I sorta suspected something was up, I just wasn't sure what." Amarette: "You can come out now. I know that you are always with me." [Amarette steps aside. A small child with blonde hair was standing behind her.] * Nyyx doesn't bother to hide the fact that she's flabbergasted now. Amarette: "And here is my sponsor and benefactor, the Solitaire." * Olivia looks slightly puzzled as well. This is a tad confusing. Amarette: "The Solitaire has been trying to fix the same problem that Gregor has been focused on. It has been working for the last six centuries on this goal." Amarette: "To that end, it has always had a single agent. Before, it was Alexander du Pre. Now it is me." I don't understand at all. Amarette: "Gregor is correct. The foundations of this world are damaged and failing. He would make himself the basis of a new foundation. The Solitaire would bring the old one back." Amarette: "As Gregor has been working toward his goal, he is bringing about the end all the faster. I suppose he is willing to risk that thinking he will succeed in time." * Nyyx frowns again. "Forgive me for interrupting, but what is happening that's made the world damaged like this?" Amarette: "This world is a work of divine will. It did not exist before the will of [ ] forced it into existence. [ ] died six hundred years ago and that will is breaking." Amarette: "As I understand it, The Solitaire was one of [ ]'s divine agents. It inverted itself to endure when the others died with the loss of [ ]. I do not know what this entails but it does mean that The Solitaire requires someone like me to interact with the world." Amarette: "All of what has happened recently has been caused by either Gregor's direct action or the side effects of the creation of the black stone. As time goes on, this will only get worse until the anomalies are stopped.] Do you know who killed...why can't you say the name? In other words, the world needs someone to hold it in place by force of will, and Gregor wanted to be that someone. * Olivia hrms as Amarette talks, letting other people ask the first questions. Amarette: "Exactly Biff and people to keep it together until that person is found. Nyyx, no one can say the name because it was destroyed. Only something beyond the planes could still know what happened." * Nyyx nods slowly. Beyond? Amarette: "I am not sure. One of my predecessors thought that a being of the far realm or a vestige could help. I just wonder how Gregor the Red and Palanquin Hassad figured it out on their own. They must have had help." * Olivia nods and is silent a moment, then comments, "You said bring the old one back... does that mean resurrecting the... creator?" Amarette: "Yes." How do we do that? * Nyyx taps her chin with a finger. "Though, in all honesty, I don't think I was alive six centuries ago and have no idea if things were better." Amarette: "We believe that we need to locate and break the same compulsion that blocks its name from being spoken. We believe that in essence, we need to solve the murder." * Olivia rubs her chin, then smiles. "Now that sounds like real fun." Where do we start? I don't know... Amarette: "Well, I would start at one of two places. The great library of Boccob or the eastern deserts where Palanquin Hassad trained Gregor. In the meantime, things are only going to get worse." Worse? Somehow I thought that'd be the case. The world's crumbling. I don't imagine things would get better. Amarette: "And Gregor's sped it up. He has taken centuries off of the world's life." Amarette: "Of course, that is why I let the Chorus here tag along. The seven gods of the Temple Compact know all of this already." * Olivia nods slightly, half-smiling. "So you're hoping Wee Jas isn't interested in the world's end either, mmm?" Amarette: "If you haven't noticed, your little group has been under the direct observation of the Temples since Kronenburg." Amarette: "On the contrary, I know that she is." * Nyyx nods. Amarette: "The Temple gods have known about all of this and have done nothing. If they were interested in preserving this world, they would have resolved the issue already." Amarette: "So, Chorus, why will they not help us?" * Olivia frowns a little at that, then looks over at the Mask. Mask: "It is not my place to say. It should be enough that they have chosen not to intervene." Too much talking, not enough walking. I'm for going back to the Library to do some research. If we don't find out anything there, we can head for the desert. Fine with me. Less chance of getting drenched in the desert. Yeah. It seems like a better chance of finding something too [END OF SESSION.] Session Close: Sat Aug 02 22:15:04 2008