NikinkCityOfGoldcampaign/CoG768DesEarth

Descending Earth, 768

• 1st - 9th :
  • Soulban (and Jocelyn) stays in Albin'Shar, while the rest of the Circle (which now includes Yari), travel onwards to the poor Fae infested Village.
    • After we returned Albinshar to Creation, Scar left with the Lunar, Light-Into-Darkness to chase down the Abyssal, Still-Air-Silence-Everlasting (Scar's mysterious nemesis) ...who Light-Into-Darkness had previously encountered. Still-Air-Silence-Everlasting was heading back to Scar's home village, Kor'sol....where a whole heap of bad stuff went down...like Scar getting his scars. [Will]
    • What Scars? I thought Scar had HEAPS of scars already? [Nik]
  • Upon arrival, they discover the plight of the villagers as slaves and drones, while the Village has been glamoured into a haven for Hobgoblins and a courtly Fae Noble and it's retinue, including two Cataphracts named Cyclone and Hurricane.
    • The lead Fae was a Diplomat, not a Noble, named Tempest [Leath]
  • After a brief reconnaissance, Kiss-Of-Winter and Prince Till enter the Fae domain utilising Kiss-Of-Winter's Eclipse Caste Diplomatic Immunity.
  • Everyone else lays low in the surrounding Forest.
  • Kiss-Of-Winter and Till negotiate with the Fae, and come to an agreement bound by Pact (both Fae and Solar) - The outcome of a contest will decide the fate of the Village and it's people. The Contest is then decided to be a duel to first blood between Prince Till (wearing the Hearthstone of Not-Bleeding) and a nominated Fae Champion (Hurricane, as it turned out).
  • Did I mention that Fae don't bleed?
  • This turned into a veritable Bludgeoning Match that the Fae couldn't lose... ever, and that Till wouldn't lose until he was beaten into unconsciousness whereupon the Fae would take his Hearthstone until it de-attuned to him and then watched his battered body ooze blood and intestines and what remained of his brain.
  • Oh yes, Kiss-Of-Winter thought he was being very smart with this deal... couldn't lose... those silly Fae would surely not know of that Hearthstone, and of course they bleed, doesn't everyone?
  • It was terrible to behold.
  • Mettan'Aku watched tearfully from the top of one of the trees two miles away and reported to the others.
  • After the mighty Prince Till was bashed to unconsciousness, and to his credit, Hurricane was looking injured, Kiss-Of-Winter sudenly thought it may not have been the smartest bargain ever brokered and attempted to re-negotiate.
  • The Fae, not being as dumb as Kiss-Of-Winter ever assumes, very slyly goad him into attacking them with Death-Of-Obsidian-Butterflies, thus breaking his (and Till's, not that his mattered anymore) diplomatic immunity.
  • In the ensuing chaos, Kiss-Of-Winter slays Till so that the Fae can't capture him (or his soul, more specifically).
  • The rest of the Circle and Till's cavalry charge through the Forest and begin a slaughter of the Hobgoblins.
  • Yari begins to activate his scene long charms.
  • Scar, Kiss-Of-Winter and Kalara eventually manage to take down the Fae Noble and Hurricane, and basically stalemate with Cyclone.
  • Eventually, the remaining Hobgoblins have been defeated and when Cyclone sees this he surrenders.
  • Kiss-Of-Winter negotiates terms of surrender and manages to bind Cyclone to Mettan'Aku. "To serve Mettan'Aku loyally in thought, word and deed" for a year and a day.
  • Hooray! The Village of Mindless Drones is freed from Fae tyranny at last!
  • I think Till was brought back for burial in Albin'Shar? May have been funeral pyred then and there?
    • Till was brought back with you to Albin'Shar. Unfortunately, he was left forgotten in the Forest when Kiss and Kalara were dropped into the underworld. His Hungry Ghost now lurks in the woods, growing ever madder. (You'll learn a lot more about this when you get back to Albin'Shar) [Leath]
    • You bastard! B-) Nikink
    • Mettan'Aku wouldn't have forgotten, even if I did!!! The amount of time spent in the Woods, and "Ten-Magistrates-Eyes", and all his Awareness Charms, and it never clicked with him??? *sigh* B-) *lol* Nikink
• 9th :
  • Karess Exalts.
• 10th - 15th :
  • Journey back to Albin'Shar.
  • Mettan'Aku has many long discussions with Cyclone about Fae, and what they do, why they do it, how they do it and all that sort of stuff. He begins to formulate an idea of teaching Cyclone to feed safely from humanity.
  • When they reach Albin'Shar, they discover it is besieged by a legion of Realm troops from three different Great Houses, and enclosed within a mighty Golden Dome that seems impregnable by the Legion's siege engines or sorceries.
    • Scar was forced to kill all the inhabitants of Kor'sol, as Still-Air-Silence-Everlasting had raised them all as zombies, and imprisoned Scar's fiance's ghost and taken off....[Will]
    • After the encounter, Scar and Light-Into-Darkness left in pursuit of Still-Air-Silence-Everlasting...who was a few days ahead of them. During this time, Scar meet a Sidereal named Elyisia, who gave him the Orichalcum eye he now has. Elyisia also told Scar about the siege at Albin'shar, at which time he decided to return to help out.
• 16th :
  • The Circle steers wide of the City and journeys into the Woodland to the east, to formulate a plan.
  • Within the Wood they discover a small army of undead and a couple of Abyssals (which I think were the same ones as in Nexus?).
  • The Circle thanks them for the offer but declines any help.
  • Strikes-In-Darkness offers her help to Mettan'Aku during the night. Thanks to her near invisibility, stealth and Hearthstone, Yari believes Mettan'Aku is talking to himself in the darkness. Kiss-Of-Winter sees her and begins to lust, but promptly forgets what she looks like when she departs.
  • A plan is formulated once Strikes-In-Darkness has provided some reconaissance.
  • Mettan'Aku, Yari, Cyclone and Strikes-In-Darkness are to sneak into the enemy camp at assassinate, the Sorceress, the General and then any other Dragon-Blooded "targets of opportunity". In that order, as the Sorceress is seen as the biggest threat, followed by the General, and with the assumption that the mortal troops will flee if the command structure is destroyed.
  • The brave four make it to nearly the centre of the camp in the wee hours of the night (unseen by all except Jocelyn the Keen-Eyed who was coincidentally watching from the walls of Albin'Shar). Then they are finally spotted and all hell breaks loose. Mettan'Aku is gradually whittled down to unconscious as his "body-guards" (Cyclone and Yari) leave his side. Strikes-In-Darkness makes it into the Sorceresses tent and despite magical protections the Sorceress is killed (thankfully killing another Dragon-Blooded via rash use Death-Of-Obsidian-Butterflies against the Lunar Anathema... they didn't even see it coming!). Strikes-In-Darkness begins a retreat, rescuing Mettan'Aku on the way out. Yari and Cyclone begin to run towards the Woods, hoping for assistance. Yaris is, by this stage, glowing like the noonday sun, and not being very subtle! Strikes-In-Darkness runs in a different direction and although she is followed for a way, manages to hide well enough to avoid detection.
  • I think the four 'heroes' make it back to the woods to discover them empty, and have to turn and defend themselves from the Legion? Or maybe they didn't manage to get to the Woods before being over-run?
  • Mettan'Aku is left hidden and unconscious within the Woods while Strikes-In-Darkness helps Yari and Cyclone.
  • Anyway, weakened and weary they have to defend themselves. Yari is rendered unconcious, and all seems lost until a mysterious Warrior-Monk named Sting (and his Lion familiar) arrive and causes enough confusion to save the day. Jocelyn leaves the City to help as well, approaching the Soldiers from their flank, unfortunately, she proves only a minor (if potent) distraction and eventually flees back into the City with her Tigers.
    • The Forest Court, angered by the presence of Abyssals in their domain, activate unknown sorceries, ripping a hole in Creation and dumping the undead army (Plus Kiss, Kalara and Bescata) into the underworld. The hole then closes. [Leath]
• 17th :
  • The next day, Mettan'Aku is retrieved by Strikes-In-Darkness and brought back inside Albin'Shar.
  • Everyone present ponders the missing troops.
  • Mettan'Aku gets distraught over Besk'Atta's disappearance, and so doesn't notice the missing Cyclone immediately, but does still appreciate the gentle and tender ministrations of Jocelyn.
  • The Siege is reinstated.
• 18th - 28th :
  • At some point Sting wanders off into the distance and Scar arrives back in the City.
  • Scar now has a Golden Eyeball instead of a Patch?
  • Yari preaches from dawn to dusk about the Glory of the Unconquered Sun. Eventually he gains a follower.
  • Yari hits him.
  • And again...
  • And then preaches more...
    • Yari didn't get his follower until during the downtime, and I don't hit him, he recieves rigerous training in the martial arts in order to focus his mind, body and spirit into one ;-) Bencyclopedia
  • The Legion has set a perimeter just beyond normal bowshot of the City Walls. Mettan'Aku, in a fit of frustrated pique, fires about 20 arrows into the General's tent one morning. The General easily evades all of them, and the perimeter is moved about 600 yards further away over the course of the morning.
  • The General sends a challenge to Albin'Shar - a duel, to the victor the City... or something like that?
  • Scar accepts and ventures forth to meet the General halfway.
    • Scar made the challenge to DB General not the other way around, plus he didn't tell us that he was going to agree that we'd all leave the city if he lost. Bencyclopedia
  • The duel is a mighty showdown between the relatively new Dawn, versus the experienced Dragon-Blood of Hesiesh.
  • The General wins!
  • Scar is taken captive.
  • That night, at the urging of Soulban, the Circle rescue Scar and kill the General.
  • The Army routs.
  • There was much rejoicing... except for the worry about where Kalara, Kiss-Of-Winter, Besk'Atta, the Abyssals and the remains of the cavalry had disappeared to... not to mention where Cyclone was!