Session Start: Sat Aug 23 17:11:23 2008
Session Ident: #castlevania
<Holmes> [The party spends a quiet evening in a tavern across from
the Great Library of Boccob.] 
<Holmes> [Once dawn breaks and the party comes down for breakfast, it
finds that the common area of the tavern is deserted save for a
single white robed figure sitting at a table with various provisions
arrayed around its perimeter.  In other words, a buffet.]
<Charlotte> Ooh.
<Holmes> Figure: "Please, help yourselves."
* Nyyx blinks. "Well, this is unexpected. Good morning."
<Charlotte> Morning
* Biff leaps up onto the table.
<Biff> What a spread.  You sure know how to make friends, buddy.
* Skip approaches and eyes the food suspiciously.
* Olivia stretches one arm above her head and mms, regarding Figure
for a moment before saying, "Never expect an uninterrupted morning
when you come to the Vale with business?" She rolls her neck on her
shoulders. "At least the sleep was everything I was looking for."
* Nyyx can't help but admire the buffet, but she maintains a neutral
expression as she reaches the ground floor. "As much as I appreciate
the gesture, I'd like to know who our host is this morning."
<Holmes> Figure: "What business is that?  Perhaps we can help."
<Holmes> Figure: "I represent the Boccobite Contact in particular and
the clergy of Boccob in general."
<Charlotte> What happened to everyone else?
<Nyyx> An honor. I'm Natalia, though no doubt you already know that.
<Holmes> Figure: "Indeed.  The clergy owns every business adjoining
the Library.  Everyone else has been provided with replacement
accomodations."
* Nyyx raises her eyebrows momentarily. "So why the special
treatment?"
<Holmes> Figure: "We are happy to have you back in town."
* Olivia walks up to the buffet and picks something which can be
eaten out-of-hand, and idly eats it as she watches the conversation.
"Well, you have to admit, it's not like Boccob's hiding his interest,
Nyyx."
* Charlotte starts eating. "Well, they're here to help us... right?"
* Nyyx nods. "Well, that's true. Thank you for this welcome. It's
very kind of you."
<Holmes> Figure: "You are welcome."
<Charlotte> This is great.
<Holmes> Figure: "So, what brings you back to the Vale?"
* Nyyx picks up a dish and helps herself to some food. "We'd like to
research some subjects at the Great Library today, if that's all
right."
* Olivia smiles at Charlotte and comments, "Like the kitty said,
making friends... and you don't really make friends with rotten
food." She looks back to the Figure after Nyyx's statement.
* Skip has a seat and begins eating.
<Holmes> Figure: "That can be arranged.  Please understand that we
cannot simply give you free reign through the complex, however.  If
you would provided me with some idea of what you are looking for,
then I am certain that we could set up a private viewing of the
Library's records for you."
<Nyyx> Of course. As you might have expected, our research has to do
with Gregor again.
<Holmes> Figure: "Of course.  What in particular?"
<Nyyx> Biff here killed him, but death hasn't stopped him, and we'd
like to find out what will, as well as how to reverse what he's done.
<Charlotte> As it is, all we can do is contain the damage
<Holmes> Figure: "I... no, I really don't see and I have no reason to
bluff.  What kind of information are you looking for?"
<Nyyx> Gregor created some sort of demi-plane, and as I understand
it, it's draining and destroying this world to feed itself.
* Nyyx eats daintily with fork and knife, despite being a fighter.
<Holmes> Figure: "Planar theory it is then."
<Holmes> Figure: "Anything else?"
* Skip stops eating for a moment, "How to kill vampires and keep them
dead." He resumes eating.
<Nyyx> Well, we'd also like to find out more about Palanquin Hassad
and the Cult of the Damacine Golem, if you have any information on
them.
<Holmes> Figure: "Alright.  Please enjoy your breakfast.  I will make
the necessary arrangements and send for you shortly."  [The figure
rises, straightens its robes and departs.]
* Nyyx thanks him and watches the man leave, then resumes eating.
* Olivia waits for him to go, and then finally has a seat and
half-smiles to herself as she gets something a bit more substantial
to eat. "Well, we're certainly responsive to our needs."
<Nyyx> Do you know him, Olivia?
* Olivia shakes her head. "No." A slight smile. "I don't quite work
at the same things, I suppose."
* Nyyx nods thoughtfully.
<Nyyx> I admit I'm a bit on edge after that strangeness on the lake.
* Olivia chuckles to herself. "Well, it was a bit of a surprise."
<Nyyx> I'll say.
* Nyyx shudders slightly. "Even if you know it's just a trick, it's
still creepy to see yourself as what you could've easily become."
* Olivia looks over at her, then asks, slowly, "It was... close, at
some point?"
* Nyyx looks at Olivia for a moment without saying anything. "I guess
you could say that. Being in proximity with my relatives has, in the
past, had a bit of an effect on me sometimes."
<Nyyx> I think I've outgrown it, though.
* Nyyx smiles a bit and continues eating.
* Olivia nods slightly and half smiles. "You certainly carried
yourself well this time."
<Nyyx> Thank you. It gets easier with practice.
<Holmes> [After about twenty minutes, there is a knock on the front
door of the tavern.]
* Nyyx stands up and goes to open the door.
<Holmes> [Another figure, this one a young man in a beige servant's
uniform, is waiting on the other side.  The street is otherwise
deserted.]  Figure: "We are ready for you, madam."
* Nyyx looks to the others. "Ready to go?"
* Olivia nods and stands, saying with a slight smile, "Well, if I
must."
<Holmes> [The party is led by this new stranger across the street and
into the Library.  After passing through several side chambers and up
two flights of stairs, they find themselves in a sub-library about
the size of a house.  The stranger is the only living thing that they
have seen along the way.]
<Holmes> Stranger: "Here is the planar cosmology sub-library.  It
should suit your purposes.  As for your other inquiry, we can attend
to that with a meeting with the Contact once you are finished here."
* Theodore looks around the room to determine what is contained in
the library and how it is arranged
<Charlotte> How do you keep this many books organized?
* Olivia glances at Charlotte and chuckles to herself. "Looking to
become a librarian, Charlotte?"
<Charlotte> Nah
<Charlotte> Just amazed
<Biff> Birds, toots.
<Biff> They use birds.
<Biff> Not very smart birds, but they have a great memory.
<Biff> They fly through the shelves and are trained to memorize every
single title and location.
<Biff> Then the guides ask the birds, and the birds tell them the
right shelf.
<Holmes> Stranger: "Close.  We once used birds, but even birds make
mistakes.  Then, we used avian constructs.  Better, but still
limited.  Then monkeys for some reason I cannot fathom...  Over
here."  [The stranger points to a short desk at the far end of the
room.]
* Theodore begins to research
* Charlotte helps where she can
<Holmes> [The desk has a small case on its top.  The stranger
withdraws a key from his coat and opens the case.  He withdraws a
small silver sphere about the size of his hand.]
* Olivia smiles to herself as she looks at the sphere.
<Holmes> [The stranger sets the sphere down and taps it once on the
top, saying the word "Retriever."  Instantly, the sphere unfolds into
a small creature in the shape of a menacing insect with large
forelimbs and a bright eyes.]
<Holmes> Stranger: "Okay, what first?"
<Biff> No idea, bub.  It's not like research is my strong suit.
<Biff> People aren't exactly eager to let met get cat hair all over
the books.
<Theodore> "Guides to Demiplane Creation and Expansion would be
ideal"
<Holmes> [With a click, the retriever turns and runs off the table,
along the floor and up the wall.  Several seconds later, it returns
with a large leatherbound tome twice its size, drops it on the table
and runs off again.  This process continues until there is a small
pile of books on the table and the creature is still.]
* Theodore begins to sort through the books and begins his research
<Holmes> Stranger: "Well, anyone else?"
<Biff> How about Planar Mechanics for Dummies?
* Rudyard has joined #castlevania
<Holmes> Stranger: "Planar transitions and interferrence."  [After
about two minutes, a second pile is on the desk.]
<Biff> Hmm... Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Planar
Mechanics (But Were Afraid To Ask)?
<Biff> How about "So You Want to be a Planar Engineer"?
<Holmes> Stranger: "Um, no, sorry."
<Biff> "A Beginner's Guide to Demiplane Creation"?
<Biff> How about "Ethel the Aardvark goes Quantity Surveying"?
<Holmes> Stranger: "Wrong area.  That's the restricted section."
* Biff blinks.
<Biff> ...really?
<Holmes> Stranger: "No, not really."  [The stranger smiles.]
<Biff> Damn.
* Rudyard blinks at huge stacks of books on topics he will probably
never understand.
<Holmes> [Olivia begins to pour over the books.]
* Nyyx begins flipping through one of the books.
<Holmes> Amarette: "I suppose Simon's journals might help too."
<Nyyx> Yes, I'd like to take a look at those, too.
<Charlotte> This stuff is so over my head.
<Nyyx> And any other books that we found at the temple.
<Nyyx> I imagine the Contact will want to see them when we're done,
too.
<Holmes> Stranger: "I would imagine, yes."
* Rudyard is now known as Skip
* Nyyx helps out with the research, despite it not being her area of
specialty.
<Holmes> [Several hours of reading pass with everyone helping out as
they can.]
<Holmes> [By the time the noon bells have tolled, the party has seen
records of the increasing difficulty of planar travel and its
eventual cessation.  Apparently, there is no record in the Library of
Amarette's shadow teleport or shadow plane shift.  While lore
concerning outsiders is very common and summoning spells are in
abundance, actual records of unique outsiders is very rare and all
but non-existent in the present day.]
<Holmes> [Apparently, demiplane creation was quite popular in the
past, but interest has waned as the planes were closed off.  It is
theorized that summoning effects still work only because an ideal
form of the target is summoned rather than an actual creature.  As it
stands, the theory behind demiplane creation is well-understood.]
<Holmes> [That theory is not very useful except to create a hiding
spot that can be detected only by those beings one should be most
afraid of.  Once the plane is created, it grows naturally to a point
unless the creator fortifies it with additional incantations.  Issues
of physics and environment are largely up to the creator.  However,
the variations seen in Gregor's plane are very unusual.]
<Holmes> [The only standard element that Gregor seems to keep with it
the link between the prime and the demiplane.  In this case,
Kronnenburg Castle and then the Black Stone would have been the link.
Whereever the stone goes, it is likely that the demiplane follows.]
<Holmes> [Observable variations in planar dynamics beyond a certain
limit appear to require divine intervention.  It is theorized that
the divine push these limits by controlling and refining the
influence of the petitioners, or souls, resident on a given plane.
If Gregor can do the same, then within the demiplane, he has at least
one deity-level ability.]
<Holmes> [If Gregor has re-tooled a normal demiplane to allow him to
draw in the restless dead and then use them to draw in more, he may
be able to reach a runaway point where the process renders the
demiplane large enough to be contermious and overlaping with the
prime throughout the entire prime.  He may be trying to combine the
two.  If this happened, he would be divine within the confines of the
Prime.]
<Holmes> [How such a link is being made is beyond the knowledge of
the library.]
<Holmes> [The research journals pick up this question, however.
Simon apparently discovered that the plague infected had stopped
their wandering and the infection rate had nearly reached zero.  The
reason was obscure but expected.  As many arcane effect are want to
do, once it became sufficiently complex, the plague as a whole
changed.]
<Holmes> [The infected appear to be linked by threads of instinct and
intention.  This development caused most of them to go dormant for
several months.  The plaguemouth was an attempt by Simon to create a
concentrated sourc of the plague to link into this complexity.  A
plague node of sorts.]
<Holmes> [The result was that Gregor was able to use his divine
abilities to converse with the host of infected all at once.]
<Holmes> [When this occured, Gregor was agast when the voice of
Greycloak answered back.  Apparently, he had been infected when
creating the plague and hid the conditions under his signature cloak.
Once he died for a second time, his unrepetant soul joined the
infected.]
<Holmes> [Gregor used the shadow siphon to take part of the host into
himself so that he could control the plague directly.  This part was
Greycloak.  He likely has Greycloaks powers at this point.]
<Holmes> [Once this occured, Gregor was no longer a true vampire and
Lydia was lost to his control.  She is staked in the stone coffin in
the bag of holding taken from the temple.]
<Holmes> [The only other points of note in the journals refer to His
Emminent Remains and the other experiments.  Apparently, H.E.R. was
overdue to return from Stavograd.  He had not reached the temple by
the time the party got there.]
<Holmes> [Also, Simon discusses his fleshcrafting with medical
detail.  Most references are grisly and useless, but one stands out.
Apparently, the red lizard that tried to kill the party in the temple
was a kind of land drake altered with parts from a phoenix.]
<Holmes> [Simon kept the creature's heart for himself in a bid for
resurrection.]
<Holmes> [A lingering question is how the infected were able to link
to one another and through what.  The plane of shadow is a likely
culprit at this point.]
* Nyyx stares at one of Simon's journals. "My mother is apparently in
one of our bags."
<Charlotte> What? WHy?
<Nyyx> Gregor apparently staked her when he lost control of her. I
guess he's not technically a vampire anymore.
* Olivia sits back in her chair, running her hand through her hair.
"This is... quite a sequence of events." She glances to Nyyx and then
nods a little, with a weak smile. "I did not realize she was your
mother."
* Nyyx rubs the back of her head. "Well, it's all right. I didn't
really know her, and honestly, I don't know if she's dangerous, even
though Gregor doesn't control her anymore."
<Charlotte> What're you going to do?
<Nyyx> She's a vampire - she's not dead. I suppose we could take her
out and pull out the stake to see what she has to say.
* Olivia looks back to the pile of books. "Maybe another day... the
one thing that I do not see is why there's no information on why the
plane is being moved closer to actual destruction."
<Skip> Maybe some of the local guardians could help us restrain her.
<Biff> I say we make her death permanent.
<Charlotte> I don't really know anything about her.
<Biff> Maybe after she makes me into a vampire.
* Nyyx makes a face. "Under these circumstances, I'm not going to
just kill my mother."
<Biff> Hey, there's a lot of people out there who'd kill for the
chance to dispose of their mothers.
<Holmes> [After pouring over books and journals until past noon, the
party is led out of the library and down the hallway to a set of
spiral stairs.  The party follows the stranger up the stairs for four
flights before coming out onto a glass ceilinged garden on the roof
of the library.]
<Holmes> [The garden is a wonder of brass railings and pipes,
pristine fountains and verdant greenery in immaculate condition.  In
the center of the garden amidst a series of beds of roses is a large
brass circular table with refreshments.  Standing off to one side is
a tall figure in a blue robe.  It turns and the familiar voice of the
Boccobite Contact rings forth.]  Contact: "Please, come in.  I've
been expecting you."
<Holmes> [END OF SESSION.]
Session Close: Sun Aug 24 00:41:16 2008