View source for DKDragons/SessionEight

17:49 [ST] The hidden chamber within the walls of Flyspeck is expansive, but cramped all the same, filled with rows of cots, piles of personal belongings, and Ghanites, sleeping, talking, eating.  Every one of them, from the most elderly down to the infants, wears a mask, most of simple design and little ornamentation, with only slight holes for the eyes and mouth.

17:49 [ST] Watching them eat with their strange long-handled utensils is certainly bizarre to most first-time viewers.

17:50 [ST] Amidst this throng reclines V'Neef Jorj.  Talek's actions have started the long process of mending his shattered leg, but he still extends it in front of him on a crate, leaning back against the wall almost indolently.

17:51 [ST] "Like I said," he says to the other Dragonblooded. "There's something going on in the center of the city, beneath the Crucible. Something big, as far as we can tell."

17:51 [ST] "But, and this is the bad news - I don't think it's whatever or whoever's producing the book, because the area was still in our hands when all this started."

17:54 [Talek] "Well, that's part of the bad news"

17:54 [Talek] "Do we know anything at all about these new events?"

17:55 [Kalan] Kalan's eyes linger Jorj's leg. His face is carefully expressionless. He might have known the sorcerer would exaggerate his injuries to escape his duties. "Perhaps it is Mask's people, if the book was promulgated by some rival Deathlord."

17:56 [ST] Jorj shrugs. "Not a lot. The tunnels the Ghanites have constructed don't go into the center portion of the city..." He turns to Kalan. "From what we can tell, most of them might be crazy, but all of them are on the same side."

17:57 [ST] "At first, there was only rioting, violence, murder in the streets... the kind of stuff you've probably seen them do.. but after a few days, it seems like... some of them. Not many, but some of them... kind of... snap out of it. Come back to themselves a little."

17:58 [ST] "They've been building the machines you saw in the second ring, and moving around inside the Crucible. The crazy ones seem to know enough to leave them alone. They stick to the outskirts of the city."

17:59 [Talek] "The Sorceror who created the book probably showed up and has managed to exert some control over a few of them."

17:59 [Talek] "Or perhaps some rival has usurped part of his power. But certainly, some Exalt is directing them"

17:59 [Keshin] "Or perhaps different books had different effects. Didn't you say that the two books you recovered were not the same?"

18:01 [ST] Jorj shrugs. "I... try not to read 'em, myself. Everyone else around here seems terrified by them. Not such a stupid feeling to have, I think. But they are different... hell, maybe one works on Exalted, if what you say abou Avaku is true."

18:01 [ST] He eyes Zip a little distrustfully.

18:02 [ST] "You have not spoken of the other problem, V'Neef Jorj," Aram the Ghanite says, his voice clearly tinged with annoyance.  His face, of course, is utterly unreadable behind his owl mask. "I grow impatient."

18:03 [Kalan] Zip flares in annoyance, giving off a little shower of sparks.

18:03 [ST] Jorj waves a hand in mutual frustration. "I'm getting to it."

18:03 [ST] "I believe this place is becoming a shadowland.  Recovering Essence becomes increasingly difficult at night.  Patches seem to be slipping in and out of the Underworld. This could be a serious problem."

18:07 * Kalan grimaces. "Unless the minds of those tainted by the books can somehow be recovered by destroying something, there is little we can do."

18:08 [Kalan] They would be contributing their own massacres to the city's progression.

18:13 [Talek] "I have been watching some of those who were affected, and looking at those of you who here stayed sane."

18:13 [Talek] "The differences are quite subtle."

18:15 [ST] Jorj furrows his brow, the way he always used to when he was trying to think up some prank.

18:15 [Talek] "I believe I may be able to cure individuals"

18:16 [Talek] "Not all of them, but one at a time, with luck."

18:17 [Talek] "I propose that we try to cure Avaku"

18:18 [ST] Jorj's smile is lopsided. "Well, better get crackin'. You're behind by about twenty thousand."

18:18 [Kalan] Kalan walks restlessly from one end of the room to the other. It's a frustratingly short distance.  "Yes. We'll need his help in the Citadel, and he may be able to tell us more."

18:21 [Talek] "You will have to restrain him  for me, of course."

18:21 [Talek] "Very well. So we have three problems."

18:22 [Talek] "We need to get these people out of here"

18:22 [Kalan] Kalan smiles witheringly at him. "Of course." 

18:23 [Talek] "We need to grab Avaku,"

18:23 [Talek] "and then  we need to figure out what to do with the rest of this city"

18:24 [Keshin] "I think our first priority has to be to stop the spread of this illness.  The city's cause is hopeless, we cannot save it.  If we can, we should get Avaku and these refugees out, but we need to worry about the abyssal's plans foremost.  Perhaps we can burn the city behinds us.  It would be a better end for the infected than what they are getting now.

18:25 [Talek] "Yes, but how to do it?"

18:25 [Talek] "It is not so easy to burn an entire city. Well, perhaps if we get Kalan very angry."

18:26 [Keshin] "WE have a tunnel system covering a bulk of the city.  If we send the Ghanites out to multiple locations, we could set many fires at the same time.  That should burn what can be burned."

18:28 [ST] "Burn the city..." Leen recoils visibly. "This disgusts me. You cannot ask such a thing of us, surely..."

18:29 * Kalan curls his lip at Talek's poor sally. "That will do well enough. The city is lost, Leen. You cower in these walls, but the mad hold sway outside them. The cleansing fires of Heisesh is the best that can be hoped for, now."

18:29 [Keshin] Keshin leans towards her, glaring.  "Does it disgust you more than the city's inhabitants do now?"

18:30 [ST] Leen lowers her head slightly. "I am forced to admit that you may speak truthfully. Better to burn the old city than to let it continue like this... but... the Stone is Imperishable. Some of the buildings may burn, but not the walls. I do not think you could burn out the core this way."

18:32 [Keshin] "Perhaps, but burning the second ring might affect the war machines being built there.  It is a step we must take."

18:32 [Kalan] Kalan takes another turn around the room. His boots slap against the stone. "If we lured the madmen into the second ring, could you drop the gates behind them?"

18:34 [ST] "Perhaps... one of the gates is already blocked... but that would not keep them from retreating to the Iron Ring, the innermost. We don't have access there. We could bar them from the outer ring, at the least."

18:35 [Kalan] Kalan grins tightly. "If there's something of the old technology at the center of this city, what do you think the odds are that it explodes if you hit it wrong?"

18:37 [Talek] "Hit it with what?"

18:37 [ST] "It's stood this long," Jorj points out, but he looks a bit excited at the prospect. This has a decent chance of being better than the time he stuck that fire salamander up Tepet Elana's skirt.

18:37 [Talek] "If it wern't fireproof it wouldn't have lasted that long. Right. But if the Abyssals were fiddling with it."

18:37 [Talek] "You never know"

18:38 [Talek] High Realm:  "But the fire could eat up all the availble air, sending smoke to these tunnels"

18:38 [Kalan] Kalan touches his direspear. "Its broken already. I was thinking more of tinkering maliciously with the controls. The Abyssals have obviously discovered something inside."

18:39 [Talek] High Realm: "Do we evacuate them first, or burn the city and risk their death?"

18:40 [ST] "I don't know what's in there," Jorj says. "The Ghanites were never allowed to see. And the Defenders with us aren't talking. It could be a first age device... it could be nothing. If I had to guess, I'd suggest an uncapped Demesne of immense pow-" he looks sharply at Talek's question.

18:42 [Keshin] High Realm: "We can't evacuate them all if we intend to use them to set the fires.  We will do what we can, but this is more important than them."

18:43 [Kalan] Kalan looks at him narrowly. He supposed it was natural for doctors to be sentimental. He answers in the same language. "We'll need them to drop the gates and start fires. They'll be outside for that. Keshin is right. Ultimately, Kushan is more important than a handful of survivors."

18:44 [Talek] "Very well then"

18:44 [Kalan] He cracks a cold smile. "They are willing to die for their city. We musn't stand in the way of their heroism."

18:47 [Kalan] In the local Riverspeak dialect, he adds, "Avaku may be able to tell us what the Abyssals are doing, what they intend. I suggest we retrieve him first."

18:48 [Keshin] Keshin nods "but we should have the other plan set in place before we go.  And some type of signal to set it off, incase we fall."

18:51 [Kalan] Kalan shrugs. "I'll send a breeze or a bolt of fire across the sky. We can get the Ghanites in place to do their work, but if we fail, the other plan will not succeed in any case." He caresses the shaft of his direlance with his fingers. "We will not fail."

18:51 [Keshin] "Perhaps Jorj should lead that effort."  Nodding to him, "your leg would hold us back.  We'll need to move fast."

18:52 [ST] "I'll get them into place. If anyone knows this city, it's them."

18:53 [Talek] "And Avaku?"

18:53 [Talek] "Surely he could aid in this plan?"

18:53 [Kalan] "We'll get Avaku."

19:05 [Kalan] "We need a guide," Kalan tells Leen. "To take us first to the manse in the outer ring, and then to the sewers leading to the Citadel."

19:06 [ST] "Any of us should suffice," Aram says. "I tell you this with only justifiable pride. But I must stay among the people, to lead. Leen is a good choice. There are also others."

19:08 [Talek] "We should wait until our essence is replenished."

19:09 [Talek] A blurry green nimbus around Talek accents his words

19:09 [Kalan] They were all the same to him, hidden behind their masks. "Very well," he says indifferently. "We can wait a handful of hours. We shoudn't delay any longer than that."

19:25 [Kalan] "Talek, would our agata carry a mortal back to Kushan without dropping him?"

19:29 [Talek] "I wouldn't want to guarantee it"

19:30 [Talek] "The Agata are creatures of alien whimsy. Who did you have in mind?"

19:32 [Kalan] "Kyros has served his purpose. It's time to send him home. A ride on an agata may be less hazardous than waiting here with the Ghanites, especially if the agata is instructed to fly lower to the ground."

19:37 [Kalan] He takes a breath. "Zip-" the little ball of flame flutters nervously. "I want you to return to Avaku. Watch him." Zip dances about his head, nearly setting his hair on fire. It pulses in scared rebellion. Kalan glares at it, patient with an effort. 

19:37 [Kalan] "From a distance," he soothes. Zip sparks. He tries another tact, reproving. "Shall I tell Beauty you were frightened?" Zip liked Beauty. "She would very much shocked. You are so brave. Come now. This is not like you."

19:37 [Kalan] The little fire elemental comes closer, won over. It cuddles in his hands, nuzzling him. "That's a good sprite. Now. Off with you."

19:38 [Talek] "Very well. But I warn you that the Agata may consider his death to be poetic"

19:38 [Kalan] Kalan shrugs. The mortal's loss would not be mourned overmuch, he imagined. Other witnesses could be found if he fell.

19:40 [ST] "Very well, then." Leen says. "Let us hasten to make preparations."

------

19:48 [ST] Leen takes the lead through the warren of hidden tunnels that riddle the walls and Undercity of Ghan, a lantern in hand.  Her dark, tightly curled blond hair hangs behind her, and she wears a small armored vest and a pair of drab, stone-colored pants. A curved knife is at her belt, a pair of war boomerangs strapped to her chest.

19:49 [ST] She moves through the darkest and most cramped of the passages with a surefooted grace, leading the group up a winding stair to a flat, deserted walltop courtyard, where Talek's Agata takes the complaining Kyros aboard.

19:50 [ST] Terrified though he is at the thought of riding on an Agata, he considers staying among the Ghanites an even more loathesome burden. At least, it can be assured that he will have no pleasant stories to tell.

19:51 [ST] The Agata lifts off in a shimmer of crystalline wings, singing a long, epic lament in a language spoken only by a far northern city that has been lost to the Wyld for thousands of years. Then, with one final soft hum, it is gone.

19:52 [ST] The journey heads back into the wall, down, down, down to the very foundations.  At several points, the journey takes the Dragonbloods and their mortal guide past small cracks in the wall, hidden windows, one way-glass.

19:52 [ST] Scenes flash by as the group moves.

19:53 [ST] An old man kneels before a crackling fireplace, his hand thrust deep into the coals, withered black to the elbow and smoking. He's singing an unintelligible song.

19:53 [ST] Ten bodies swing from the rafters in the abandoned common room of a teahouse, blood crusted on their slashed throats and the floor beneath them.

19:54 [ST] And a severe young man in dark plate mail, surrounded by a group of Defenders and mortals attired much as he is, is arguing vocally with a woman.

19:55 [ST] She is more difficult to make out, but she is slender and short, her dark hair swept up in a hanging ponytail. She wears a dark blue kimono.

19:56 [ST] "I know they're here," the young man says.  They are both audible and visible through a thin wire grating.  "They killed over a wing of the unseasoned only hours ago! You were supposed to tell me about this!"

19:57 [ST] "Word did not arrive in a timely fashion," the young woman says tersely. "They are nothing. They can be killed. Perhaps even turned. They will not reach the center of the city."

19:58 [ST] "There are ways," the young man insists. His eyes are hollow and haunted, his skin extremely pale. He doesn't seem to have the vitality in death that the Maiden did. "They can come underneath the walls."

19:58 [ST] The woman laughs, moving off, not even looking back. "If they are foolish enough to attempt that, I suspect we won't have to deal with them at all."

19:59 [ST] He stands there, staring after her for several long moments, a look of intermingled longing and disgust on his face. At last, he snarls, "Come along!" to the others, and his group follows in her wake.

19:59 [ST] Leen waits a few more moments before waving the group on.

20:00 [Talek] Talek brushes his hands along the moss and the weeds growing in the cracks of the stones. No one has written  speeches to kill these humble things. They tell him of the essence they have seen. Yes, he can heal this disease. Sloppy, a mass weapon.

20:01 [Kalan] Kalan listens, running his fingers up and down the direlance. Monsters? Traps? The Wyld? An ugly smile twitches at his lips. Death at the end of every road. Mara woud be so pleased.

20:02 [ST] Leading the group down through the walls and out into a dark, narrow alley.  She closes the tunnel opening securely behind her, and it's difficult to even tell that it is there.

20:03 [ST] The streets are quiet. Leen steps to the mouth of the alley, looks both ways, and motions the group after her.

20:03 [Kalan] "Zip," Kalan murmurs as he steps into the alley. 

20:05 [Keshin] Keshin steps after them, checking that his Daiklave is free in its sheath, but not wanting to draw it yet.  he would feel more secure, but that would not be worth it being in the way.

20:05 [ST] There's a sudden spark, and the wisp of light flickers into being above Kalan's left shoulder, trembling.

20:05 [ST] He's still where he was before. He's still laughing. He's doing... strange things. He is armored and armed.

20:06 * Kalan nods. "Still there," he tells the others softly, following Leen.

20:08 [ST] Leen moves forward like part of the pre-dawn shadows, slipping from one patch of darkness to another. The group passes dead livestock, shattered carts, discarded weapons and... body after body, piled five or six deep in some places, shattered.  Blood coats the streets or scribes bright smears across the facades of nearby buildings. 

20:08 [ST] Above, a shattered walkway looms.

20:11 [ST] No one comes forth to challenge the Dragonbloods, and soon the governor's manse looms out of the night.  A tall, steep-roofed structure, the stone building sprawls out across a decent chunk of a city block.  It seems dark, silent, and mostly untouched.  In one of the windows, a single light burns and flickers.  Zip trembles.

20:11 [ST] Up there.

20:12 [Kalan] Kalan spins his direlance in his hands, a nervous gesture, and unlike him. With the practiced blindness of a soldier, he ignores the small, pale outsretched hand under his feet, and notices the bodies scattered in front of him as objects to step around rather than former people.  

20:13 [Kalan] "Remember," he hisses to the others uneccessarily. "Only one of us should be close to him at once; he almost certainly knows the charm Safety Among Enemies."

20:14 [ST] "What?" Leen says. Her hands tremble slightly as she reaches down to draw her knife, but she doesn't voice her fear.

20:15 [Kalan] "You stay back," Kalan tells her bluntly. "You'll be useless in the fight, and we need you to take us to the Citadel."

20:15 [Keshin] Keshin nods, brushing his hand over the bow he had been given for the task.  "Before we go in after him, let us meditate together, to reinforce our commitment to this."

20:16 [ST] "I will wait for you here," Leen acknowledges, moving back into the shadows. "I wish you luck."

20:17 [Kalan] A little ripple of red essence runs through Kalan as he falls into the Five Dragon Stance. His gestures are sharp, and too fluid. His head tilts at an arrogant angle. He nods. "Very well." He holds out his hand.

20:18 [Keshin] Keshin grabs it, a pebble caught between their grips.  He tosses another to Kalan, aiming near his otehr hand.  Then he extends his right arm to Talek.

20:18 [Talek] "Is this something you learn at the other academies?" he offers his hand

20:20 [Kalan] He takes Talek's other hand, a pebble in his palm. "More or less."

20:22 [Keshin] He bows his head, focusing on the quiet strength epitomized by the stone.  Like the Realm it was worn to a nub of what it once was, but it endured still.

20:23 [Keshin] Slowly he bleeds essence through the stone, linking the three of them together.  Fortifying them for their task.

20:27 [Kalan] Kalan draws his hands back as the essence joins them, strengthens them, and two pebbles fall back to the earth with a clink, rolling into a patch of bloody mud. "Shall we?"

20:29 [Kalan] He picks up his spear, holding it in front of him. A shiver of fire runs down the shaft. "We go," he says, and walks without ceremony towards the doors, Zip cowering behind him.

20:30 [ST] A corpse sprawls on the floor of the foyer, Cynis surcoat splattered with blood, head turned completely around to stare blankly at the ceiling.

20:32 [ST] There's another a few steps on, stuck to a fine divan with a rusty spike, and two more on the narrow staircase.  Kalan, in the lead, has just stepped over the corpse of a Defender, blood puddled around the stumps of its legs, when a voice can be heard coming down the stairs.

20:32 [ST] Avaku.

20:32 [Keshin] Keshin stalks after him, drawing his Daiklave.  He would use the bow when it was needed, but for now he preferred the familiarity of this weapon.

20:33 [Talek] Talek draws his bow. Both familiar and cowardly.

20:33 [ST] "...killed him... I killed him.... and he was just a boy.... even if he was an Anathema..."

20:34 [Kalan] Madness. 

20:34 [ST] "And I said... to... Minata, I said.... "Is this why the Dragons chose me? To protect this family's drug money?... and she said..."

20:34 [ST] " 'No, my husband... you know it isn't....'"

20:34 [ST] "I do know... now... don't you see? Don't you?"

20:34 [Keshin] It would be soon now.  He pauses for a moment, concentrating on his body, fortifying it further for the stresses of combat.

20:35 [ST] Avaku begins to laugh, low and deep, and from somewhere above there is a strangled moan.

20:35 [ST] He's talking to someone else.

20:37 [Talek] Talek's eyes glow a dull green. "Guilt?" he whispers. "Guilt is their great weapon againist the Dragon Blooded? Fools, they should have read our histories. We have often triumphed over Guilt. Just hold him,  this will be simple."

20:37 [Kalan] Kalan walks smoothly up the stairs, his daiklaive clutched in his hand. His feet sink into the deep, soft carpets. They are strangely squishy.

20:37 [ST] "...fix this family... from the bottom up. You're the first. You'll be the first. All you have to do is... listen."

20:37 [ST] The stairs empty out into a narrow hallway, and that in turn opens on a massive sitting room.

20:39 [ST] Obviously meant to be the manse's main area for entertaining, it has a wide, broad floor at the far end, tiled for dancing. A massive chandelier of Chiaroscuran glass hangs there, giving off an inner light, and a vast window takes up the entirety of the far wall. A rich, thick carpet - indeed, strangly squishy in places - covers the nearer part of the room, full of small tables, chairs, stools, and divans.

20:40 [ST] A fireplace smolders - it was here that Zip hid.  The room is full of small lacquer screens, standing vases, and rapidly wilting potted plants.

20:40 [ST] Avaku paces back and forth, a crazed look in his eye, burning with essence.

20:42 [ST] Three figures are seated at a table in front of him, dressed in Cynis livery. Two men and a woman. Their hands are splayed out flat on its surface, impaled, pinned to the table with a collection of blades - kitchen knives and fine daggers. Their eyes are gone, leaving only bands of scabbed tissue. Avaku, it seems, enjoys a captive audience.

20:42 [ST] As the Dragonbloods mount the stairs, he turns, a small smile creasing his face as he waits, wordless.

20:44 [Kalan] "Cynis Avaku," Kalan greets him with a slow, ironic smile of his own. "I congratulate you on your efforts at reform." He strides forward, spear held loosely in his one hand, and offers the other to clasp. 

20:45 [Keshin] Keshin wordlessly sheathes the Diaklave, and readies his bow.

20:46 [ST] "I'm mad... Kalan... not... a fool. I heard you coming up the street. Every footstep of that Ghanite cow sounded like a tree branch cracking... have you...." He cocks his head sharply to one side, blinking.

20:47 [ST] "Have you ever tore one of their masks off? They scream like frightened children. They... will kill themselves in fits of terror. It is... a sight not to be missed.... I... know why you have come here."

20:49 [Kalan] Kalan's smile turns cold and sour. His grip on his spear tightens and spins it so the point tips towards Avaku's throat. "Tell me then. Why have we come?"

20:51 [ST] Avaku takes a neat step backwards, his daiklave flickering up into a defensive pose. "To slay me. To deny the beauty of Oblivion. Of the Mask."

20:52 [Kalan] "Ah. As it happens then.....you are wrong." He jerks to the side, giving Keshin and Talek a clear shot. 

20:54 [ST] "Please... then... enlighten me..." He reaches behind him, almost idly, and hooks his fingers in the mouth of one of the sitting figures. A vicious wrench splits the man's cheek open. "I have... things... to attend to. Do you mean to tell me you've come to... help? There are books...."

20:55 [Kalan] "Talek wished a word."

20:57 [ST] "Have no wish to take words... only... give them. Read the books... or die. That is the way of this new world.... you cannot imagine. They are greater than the Anathema ever were. They are our... rightful rulers. We are fools to resist them... they will pull down the decadent dynasty... replace it with the equality of the grave..."

20:57 [ST] Avaku's remaining eye rolls dangerously. Blood drips from his fingers onto the tabletop.

20:58 [ST] "I... may be mad... " Avaku says again... "But I'm not a fool... and I do not challenge the odds... recklessly." He snaps his fingers, a bizarrely mundane gesture from a ravening madman...

20:59 [ST] And a pair of screens on the far end of the room shatter as a pair of massive two-handed battle axes shear through them, toppling them.

21:00 [ST] Two Defenders stand there, draped in heavy armor, rimed with deep, burning red essence.

21:00 [Kalan] Kalan curses murderously. 

21:00 [ST] Kalan and Keshin certainly recognize the effects of the Deadly Wildfire Legion charm when they see it.

21:02 [Talek] Talek has seen it as well, used to enhance sorcerous servants of all descriptions. So dreadfully uncreative

21:04 [Keshin] Keshin just smiles, dropping the bow at the doorway for now.  He was more comfortable in close anyway.  The Reaver Daiklave fits his hands much better.

21:05 [ST] Avaku darts to one side smoothly in a sudden, springing hop, his free hand scraping along the surface of the table.  He grabs the kitchen knife sticking in the closest victim's hand and wrenches it sideways, freeing it in a burst of blood and wood splinters, releasing it at the apex in a throw at Kalan's face.

21:09 [ST] But it's only a feint.  Racing forward, Avaku leaps up, kicking off the table with one foot and twisting in midair to bring his daiklave up over his head.

21:10 [ST] A burst of essence flares around him, swallowing him in a column of flame so intense that it shrouds him from view for a brief moment.  Then he descends, the edge of his daiklave bleeding liquid fire. There's a shrill scream as it splits the air, descending on Kalan.

21:12 * Kalan ducks his head and rolls to the side, knocking the knife violently aside with the butt of his spear. A drop of blood spatters against his face as it flies overhead,  hurtling towards the Defender. He sees Avaku coming almost too late, swooping down like a burning falcon, and jumps upward in a burst of flame. 

21:14 [Kalan] Avaku's strike cleaves neatly through the skull of the Cynis retainer behind him, and digging itself deep into the man's torso. His sightless eyes can't weep, and it's just as well; one half of his faces slides messily and sloppily to the floor.  

21:15 [ST] ...but the stroke keeps going, shearing through the body and the table, coming all the way around.  Blood sizzles on the surface of the daiklave as it crashes into Kalan.

21:15 [Kalan] Zip screams. 

21:18 [Kalan] Kalan hurtles himself backward, grunting as the reaver daiklaive cuts a long, ugly groove across his essence-hardened flesh.

21:19 [ST] Sparks and drops of sizzling blood spray across the carpet, setting spots alight. Avaku gives a low, satisfied rumble.

21:21 * Kalan snarls, but rather than press the attack he springs backward, running across the table. Flatware scatters onto the floor, and a woman makes a slight, pained noise, and his boots carelessly crush her maimed fingers. A cande knocks over, catching the edge of a tapestry on fire. 

21:22 [Kalan] Kalan falls on the nearest Defender like a hungry wolf, direlance hurtling towards the slit in his helmet. He had to get them out of the way, if he planned on giving Avaku his ...medicine. 

21:25 [ST] The massive Defender gives a grunt and staggers backwards as the blows fall, raising the haft of its enormous battleaxe to block the blows. Dried blood already cakes the slit visor of its helmet.  More sprays out as the thing exerts itself.

21:28 [ST] The head of the Direlance shears through the thick abdominal plate, digging deep into the Defender's vitals... but he steps back with a convulsive jerk, freeing himself in a spray of blood.  Ropes of entrails dangle from the wound, but the thing -barely human, it seems, keeps its feet.

21:36 [Keshin] Seeing Kalan engage the defenders, Keshin sprints forward to occupy Avaku.  As he reaches the table, his Daiklave lashes out once.  As he uses the low bench to jump it, he stabs down again.  As he lands on the other side, screening Avaku from the battle at the other end of the room, he strikes a third time, a fourth, driving Avaku away from his comrades.  Or tools, whichever.

21:38 [Keshin] He attacks with all his might, channeling essence through his weapon, trying to drive Avaku into the ground.  They were there to save him, but if he fell so quickly, he didn't deserve to be saved in the first place.

21:42 [ST] As Keshin's attacks come flying in, Avaku suddenly bursts with a flare of light. He dances backwards, his entire body seeming to waver for a moment.

21:43 [ST] And then, he becomes a being of living flame, flickering in brief stop motion jerks as the attacks rain down

21:44 [ST] Several attacks pierce him deeply, licking even through the dense layer of flames, drawing grunts of agonizing pain. But as the fourth is about to rain down, he flickers and his flame-shrouded form springs backwards, landing near Talek.

21:45 [Talek] "Damn it."

21:48 [ST] There seems to be no change in the flaming form, but Keshin's daiklave is still wet with blood.

21:49 [Talek] Talek raises his hands, steps forward, and slaps Avaku across the face

21:51 [ST] Avaku dances back, flickering back to his normal form as Talek's blow misses him. There's a bloody gash between his hip and his armor, and he seems to be moving sluggishly, as if his limbs are heavy.

21:53 [ST] The wounded Defender staggers away from Kalan, racing across the ever-more devastated room as if it doesn't feel the pain, as if every step doesn't cause more of its vitals to seep from the hole in its gut.

21:54 [ST] With a basso roar, the creature swings its great axe up over its shoulder, casually decapitating the woman sitting at the table, before hurling its shoulder down towards the floor and slamming the weapon into Keshin's back with a sound like cracking stone.

21:56 [Kalan] Kalan had been expecting this; planning it, in fact, ever since he stepped within the creature's reach. With an adroit slide of his shoulders, and a spark of flame, he's out of the way and the axe smashes into the brother-Defender's shoulder. 

21:57 [ST] But the strike, though powerful, is ill-aimed, and the weapon only scores a light cut across the Dragonblood's forearm.

21:59 [Keshin] Keshin sttod, and took the charge, concentrating on removing his blade from the table it had embedded itself in.  As he wrenches it out, the sudden jerk takes him almost outside the lethal circle of the Defender's attack.

22:01 [Kalan] Kalan deals with frustration as well as he ever does; that is to say, badly. Balked of his first attempt  to gut the brute, he backs away, circling it. He grabs a giant silver plate from the table with one hand, lifts it, and as the Defender's eyes warily track his speartip, he smashes it against  the monster's head with a savage with a savage lack of chivalry.

22:03 [Kalan] Its head makes a �BONNNNG� noise, as if hollow, and as the Defender staggers in confusion, he steps up and butchers the slave. His spear makes a wet, sucking noise as he drives it again and again through the armor. 

22:06 [Kalan] Then he spins and charges, his spearpoint spraying blood across ancient and revered tapestries, and attack the other Defender from behind, wedging his spear into the weak joint where arm meets shoulder.

22:08 [Kalan] His spear skitters across the Defender's back with a scraping noise, and he growls annoyance.

22:09 [ST] The Defender turns smoothly, jerking the Dragonblooded to one side as its mass yanks the spear sideways.  Its clumsy counterattack misses Kalan by a mile, smashing an elegant metal urn in with a gonglike clang.

22:10 [ST] Avaku regards Talek for a moment, sizing him up, then turns to face Keshin.  The bones in his wrist crackle as he spins his Daiklave expertly, loosening the tendons that have been stiffened by Earth essence.  His anima flares brightly, sending curls of smoke up from the carpet around him.

22:12 [ST] He dashes forward in a streak of flame, the speed of his passage sending a pair of ancient texts resting on a table flying, fluttering for a moment in the air like birds before they ignite and crisp to ash.

22:12 [ST] He comes to a stop before Keshin in a skid of sparks, and his daiklave blurs into motion, barraging the other Dragonblood with a flurry of strikes

22:18 [Keshin] Keshin does his best to block all of the incoming strikes, but can't keep up with Avaku's speed.  He backs up, circling slightly to get his back against the wall, and Avaku's open to the room behind him.

22:21 [ST] Despite the Dragonblood's best efforts, some get through, spraying blood back in Avaku's face.  It begins to bubble up and boil on contact.  Flames fill the room now, and choking smoke with them. The priceless furniture is burning.

22:35 [Talek] Talek charges Avaku, arms flailing wildly, totally vulnerable

22:38 [ST] Avaku doesn't turn, springing straight up in a burst of essence.  He turns a tight flip in the air, slamming his foot into the back of Talek's head - and propelling him forward into Keshin.

22:39 [Talek] Talek crashes into Keshin's arms and giving him a big hug

22:42 [Keshin] Keshin inteposes his sword, but Talek slams into him with enough force that his head cracks into the wall painfully.

22:47 [Talek] "Damnit"

22:47 [Kalan] Kalan narrows his eyes. Avaku was a canny fighter. Alas, there was still butcher's work to be done. His spear licks out tauntingly against the Defender, forcing the slave to raises his sword to block again and again, but does not yet attack in earnest. 

22:48 [Kalan] He raises his spear for another taunting jab against the throat, and the Defender roars, charging him. Kalan's lip twitch in the suggestion of a smile as he promptly slides all across the wet blood that rendered the polished  floor slick as ice. 

22:49 [Kalan] He strides through the smoke, very much at home amid the flames that had begun to lick the walls, and ends it. 

22:51 [Kalan] He makes a very nice hole in the floor as the Defender, incredibly, rolls away.

22:52 [ST] Keshin and Talek are still halfway tangled together when Avaku dashes forward once more, springing high into the air... directly over the chandelier of Chiaroscuran glass that hangs above the far end of the chamber.

22:52 [ST] He severs its chain with a single swipe of his daiklave and splinters it asunder with another.

22:53 [ST] A rain of razor sharp glass falls upon the two Dragonblooded below, and Avaku plummets through the center of it, his daiklave blurring as he strikes repeatedly.

22:55 [Talek] Talek hastily removes himself from the embrace, diving across the floor, sliding across the slippery blood and into a pile of bodies at the other end of the room. "Sorry" he reflexively apologizes to a head before he realizes its missing its body

22:57 [Keshin] Keshin's eyes search fantically, and finally catch the motion of Avaku falling towards them.  He brings the Diaklave up, to intercept the strike, and scrunches his eyes closed, just in time to save them from the shards of crystal falling towards them.

23:04 [Kalan] Kalan jumps as the chandelier crashes to the ground. Shards of glass hurtle pass him, and one scratches a long shallow cut on his cheek. He raises his hand to the wound. Heat begins to radiate from his body, fire wraps around his firespear. While he played with this creature, his comrades fought Avaku, more experienced than either of them. His face, hidden by the smoke, twists in rage. 

23:04 [Kalan] Folly after folly after folly. That was the tale of the Dragonblooded in the time since the Empress. 

23:05 [Kalan] He walks deliberately towards the Defender, leaving steaming, black footprints behind him. He hefts his spear one-handed , and drives it through his head. 

23:07 [Kalan] The cracking noise his skull makes as it squashes like a cantelope satisfies immensely.

23:11 [ST] The axe falls to the Defender's side with a heavy clunk, shattering the delicate tile beneath its feet.  For a moment, it stands there, clawing at the embedded shaft.  Then, he falls backward, slowly, ponderously. The crash the corpse makes against the tile is sharp and piercing.

23:12 [ST] The sound seems to draw Avaku's attention.  He springs from the ruins of the chandelier, a column of flame enveloping him once more.  For a moment, he seems to hang suspended in the air, and then he descends on Kalan with a furious whirlwind of slashes.  The windows that cover the wall behind him explode from the force of the attack.

23:16 [Kalan] Kalan turns sharply, turning his direspear in his hands to catch the rain of blows on the haft. Sparks burn around his footsteps as he twists this way and that in an effort to avoid the blows.

23:19 [Kalan] He grimaces as Avaku's daiklaive pierces his shoulder, and then he leaps back in a shower of fire and smoke. 

23:24 [Keshin] Keshin leaps the table, following his quarry to the other side of the room.  Avaku was faster, but Keshin arrived soon enough.  Just as Kalan leapt away, his Diaklave started its first broad swing, coming down from shoulder height to slash at Avaku's feet.  He didn't need legs to be healed.

23:26 [Keshin] Then another blow, aimed at the Dragon-Blooded's Daiklave, trying to force it out of the way, and another to exploit the opening.  The Diaklave rained in, hammering at Avakus defenses, trying to incapacitate him.

23:27 [ST] As Keshin's attacks come in, Avaku once more flares with a sudden burst of flame that completely consumes his body, turning him into a living being of fire.

23:32 [ST] Keshin's first blow carves into the flame, forming a bloody trench, dousing part of it with a sizzle.  Then Avaku coils and springs away, landing before Talek. The impact throws up a sheet of flame, igniting the already-burning rafters.

23:33 [ST] The building creaks ominously... the fire is weakening it extensively.

23:33 [ST] Avaku is at full anima flare, a living tower of flame.

23:37 [Talek] Talek reaches his hand out, palm forward, and pulls fire from Avaku's anima. "Once a Dynast, always a Dynast. Aid us." There is a smell of fragrant wood burning as the fire touches Talek, and smoke fills the rooom

23:44 [ST] Avaku laughs bitterly. "Your... Dynasty... is nothing but a lie... a huddle of inbred whelps licking each other and mewling while... the world collapses around them... there's a better way... a purer... way..."

23:44 [ST] His eye rolls madly in his skull

23:46 [Talek] Talek steps back, a silloutte in the fog

23:47 [Kalan] Kalan smirks. "Pure? You can almost swim in the stench of rot here, it's so thick."  He meets Keshin's eyes and jerks his head to the side. 

23:49 [ST] Avaku's gaze turns one way, then the other... he seems to be wavering, his confidence weakening.  Then, with a sudden shout, he hurls himself through the flames, diving in a headlong attack towards Talek.  He plows through the cloud of fragrant smoke, hacking downwards in a savage, brutal cut meant to split the Dragonblood from throat to crotch.

23:51 [Talek] Talek slips away, laughing in some indeterminate direction

23:52 [ST] The house groans in protest as flames dance on its walls. Elegant tapestries and frescoes vanish, charred to ash.

23:57 [Keshin] Keshin crouches lower to the ground, circling to the side, trying to come at the enemy from an unexpected direction.  He moves as quickly as he can without running noisily.  When he sees Avaku, a shadow in the fog, he charges, grunting with exertion as he channels essence through his Daiklave, strengthening his bond to it, and likewise strengthening the blow.

00:04 [ST] Keshin's blow strikes home on Avaku's armor with a massive, ringing blow.  The Fire Aspect staggers forward several steps, stumbling, and when he turns to face his attacker, his movements are slower, more clumsy.

00:07 [Kalan] Kalan smiles coldly, and twirls his spear. At last. No more need to fear any bloody charms and smushing Talek. He holsters his spear and charges him, fire shooting up from his arms and legs as he engulfs himself in flame. 

00:08 [Kalan] He embraces Avaku in a bear hug, and his charge carries the both of them into the burning wall. It buckles and snaps, and they tumble, burning, burning, into the stack of corpses below. Kalan squeezes tight and shouts up hoarsely, "Time for his medicine, Talek."

00:11 [ST] "Kill... you..." Avaku spits on Kalan's brow; it sizzles. "Fools.... don't realize... what fools you are...."

00:11 [Talek] Talek pulls up his sleeve, his hand glowing. In the mingling smoke and firelight the green is hideous. "You are part of the world." He pushes his hand againist Avaku's chest. There'se a sizzling sound as it touches the hot jade breastplate. "Hate it or not"

00:12 [Talek] "No leaf or rabbit exists without the forest. Nor can you. Come back to this world you claim to loathe. "

00:14 [Talek] His anima flares an image of the elemental pole of wood. Trees without count, forever and ever, each supporting each other, pushed in tightly. It makes you dizzy if you look at it, but its a visage which has no place for the void

00:15 [ST] Behind them, the foundations of the Manse scream audibly and dangerously.  As Avaku's eyes shoot open and he takes a ragged, gasping breath, the house collapses, caving in on itself with a splintering scream.

00:15 [ST] Flames leap against the night sky.

00:16 [ST] Avaku blinks, staring at the others.

00:16 [ST] "...by... the ... by the Dragons... what did I do?" His face screws up, he rolls onto his side, retching. "�What did I do?�"

00:18 [ST] The rampaging conflagaration of his anima begins to ebb.

00:19 [Kalan] Kalan releases him and stands gratefully, as the Exalt pukes by his feet. His face is smudged and grey with soot. "Terrible things," he says cooly. "Collect yourself. We're planning an assault on the Citadel. We need to know what these...death-slaves intend."

00:20 [ST] "My men..." Avaku gasps. "I killed them.  I �tortured� them." 

00:23 [Keshin] Keshin crouches by him.  "You were weak.  Be strong now."

00:24 [Kalan] "You failed when it mattered," Kalan agrees, eyes hard and merciless. "If Talek and I resisted the lure of the book, it was certainly within your abilities. Nevertheless, now is not the time for self-flagellation."

00:25 [Talek] "We need to get out of here. I can't imagine that was quiet"

00:25 [ST] He is silent for a moment, gathering himself. "There are two types... those... who have gone mad, and those who still retain some element of sanity. The last they call the Harrowed... they were at the center of the city. Some have come from here, some from other places-"

00:25 [ST] As if on cue, Leen appears almost right behind Talek. "This was not discreet. I am fearful that more will come soon."

00:27 [Kalan] Kalan pulls Avaku roughly to his feet, not taking any pains to spare his wounds. He had a cut on his cheek and a throbbing hole in his shoulder, and was hardly in the mood. "We need to go. Talk while we walk."

00:28 [ST] "They're commanded by a young man. A ghost-blooded, perhaps... I never heard his name... and there's a woman with them... her name... was..." Avaku staggers slightly. "Mournful... Ivory? Tragic... Ivory? I can't remember. I was... not myself."

00:30 [Kalan] Zip pops into being at his shoulder, hovering anxiously by Kalan's ear, away from Avaku. Kalan drags him towards the alley. "Do you know what they're doing in the Crucible?"

00:30 [Keshin] Keshin staggers along behind them, still enough about himself to keep a watch behind.

00:30 [ST] "The books aren't made by a sorceror.... they're made by a machine... some kind of artifact.  They didn't trust me, but kept me alive... as if to see how I would behave... they... I overheard them say that their master had found the machine in an old storehouse..."

00:31 [ST] "I do not. I think it has something to do with... transforming this place into a shadowland. They may have moved the artifact there, as well."

00:32 [ST] A single small, disheveled figure darts around a corner; a glance at Keshin's daiklave sends it running.

00:32 [ST] The group encounters no one else until Leen reaches the wall, opening the secret passage and ushering them in once more before sealing it anew.

00:35 [Kalan] "Then it is to the Crucible we shall go. Keshin. You bore the brunt of the fighting; how do you fare?" He stood well away from the Earth Aspect's anima, which sent pebbles careening against the walls of the tunnel. 

00:37 [Talek] "An artifact! It doesn't make sense. "

00:37 [Keshin] "If we must go now, I will follow, but I doubt I would be of much use.  I am seriously injured."  He follows the rest, with a hand on the wall to steady him, and his right arm cradled to his gut.

00:38 [Talek] "We should get Jorj, call the stag, and escape to recover our essence"

00:38 [Talek] "This was a scouting mission"

00:38 [Talek] "If we are giong into the citadel, I want to carry heavier armaments"

00:38 [ST] "Would you abandon us here, then?" Leen asks sharply. "This angers me."

00:39 [Kalan] Kalan hisses through his teeth. "We'll have to delay," he acknowledges unwillingly. "Give the two of you a chance to recover. But we cannot overlook the benefits of a swift, sure strike at the heart of this beast. By the time we returned with a legion, this place may be a death valley. There is too much to be gained."

00:39 [Talek] "I will summon spirits to fight besides us, and you can get in your warstrider, and then we shall have a better chance"

00:39 [Keshin] "We should be able to get back in the same way again.  We should be able to gather another sufficient bribe."

00:40 [Talek] "I'm the one who proposed rescuing you, fool, we are merely plotting the best way to do so. Now be silent and let us dragons speak"

00:41 [ST] Avaku speaks up. "There was a sense of preparation.  In a day, perhaps two, they will be ready to move. The machines will be finished... whatever they plan at the heart of the city, as well.  If you delay now..."

00:41 [Talek] High Realm: "Do not neglect to consider the possibility of a black Anathema standing in the heart of this city, commanding monstrosties"

00:41 [ST] Leen falls silent. It should be impossible to know she is glowering behind the mask, yet somehow it's obvious that she is.

00:42 [Talek] "We struggled to subdue one of our own and two retainers. Will we face the Maiden of the Mirthless Smile in all of her glory, wounded and empty of essence?"

00:43 * Kalan stares at Keshin and Talek unreadably for a long moment.   "......No. We cannot retreat." His nostrils flare. "I �will not� retreat. I will not run and cower from Anathema. We will wait some hours to replenish ourselves, and then we will strike." His glare is withering. "All of us."

00:43 [Talek] "Hours will not be enough"

00:44 [Kalan] "They will have to be. You have hearthstones, do you not?"

00:44 [Talek] "Healing you will deplete my essence"

00:44 [Keshin] "If it is what must be done, I will do it.  But tell us your plan first.  If I am to sell myself, I wish to have a chance of success."

00:45 [Talek] "You of all people have forgotton how small and insignificant my branch of Mnemnon is? Perhaps I should be flattered. But no, I carry no such tokens of power."

00:47 * Kalan glowers at him. He grits his teeth. "Ten hours," he grants at last. "We should have that much time. I will send a message to Jorj."

00:50 [Talek] "If you get us killed they'll strap us up together on one of those frames, and I'll spend all of eternity tormenting you."

00:51 [ST] Even with the wounded, the return journey seems to take a much shorter amount of time.  Soon, the group is back amongst the Ghanites. While Leen moves off to inform Aram of what happened, Jorj waves the Dragonbloods over.

00:51 [ST] "Avaku! You're looking better!" Seeing the stony look the other gives him, his smile fades. "So. I guess you all had... fun."

00:53 [Talek] "Oh, it was a blast. The fire aspect here is dragging us all out again in 10 hours. I say we leave while we can"

00:53 [Kalan] Kalan glances Jorj over. Not a mark on him.  His lip curls in annoyance. "Indeed. Are the preparations complete? Oil in placed in the tunnels?"

00:55 [ST] "Yes indeed, Kalan," Jorj doesn't seem fazed by the other Dragonblood's contempt. He reminded him of all the old sour Heptagram teachers he'd had... except Kalan couldn't summon a demon to discipline him. "Even some small stores of Firedust. We'll set this place off, and it should burn, but who can say?" He shrugs.

01:00 [Kalan] "The Dragons will provide," Kalan says cooly, with a twist of a smile indicating he very much doubted they would. He sinks into a pile of cushions, and wishes, in a mild way, that Matara had accompanied them.

01:01 [Talek] Talek sighs, fetches a pitcher of water, and sets to work on his garden

01:01 [Kalan] Her cousin was a poor substitute in certain areas. 

01:01 [Kalan] "Sleep!" Kalan recommends to him at a shout. 

01:03 [ST] The Ghanites are swarming with activity - picking up some belongings, discarding others, herding families together.  A few take the time to bring a tray of dried meat and cheese to the Dragonbloods.  One masked woman attempts to tend to their wounds, as well, pulling thread and needle from a pouch at her waist.

01:12 [Talek] "Come on, dammit, help me, listen, hold this bucket, you, throw some dirt in there, draw a circle - a circle dammit not a fucking oval - in the ground. You with the thread get over here. No I don't care how old and wise you fucking are, get over here."

01:13 [Talek] Within half an hour, Talek has somehow prepared two cocoons, made of bark, sorcerously summoned leaves, and whatever cloth was on hand. He rudely shoves Avaku and Keshin into them to heal

01:15 [Talek] The two bumpy, hastily sewn sacks look monstrous, but Avaku at least is all too happy to hide somewhere dark and comforting

01:20 [Keshin] Keshin, too exhausted to even comment on the symbolism, rests inside.  When he wakes later, then he has the energy to be vaguely disgusted.

----

<i>ST's Notes: More building on the Ghanites here, but the main NPC of this session was Avaku. I was astonished that the players wanted to seek him out so badly, but moreso that they were trying to restore him to sanity and capture him alive. I guess they really thought he was sympathetic in the 2e Core. He gave them a surprising amount of trouble. In the course of this campaign, I found that it was very difficult to balance Celestial level antagonists against DBs. Too heavy and full of perfects, and they'd crush the opposition. Too light, and they were chow against a bunch of 150 XP DBs. Avaku was a high level DB with some impressive charms (courtesy AB: Fire) and I wasn't afraid to cause a TPK by using them. He was a tough foe up until the point they basically ran him out of Essence. That's always when things go bad for a DB.</i>