Act 1 Scene 3: Shadow on the Sun [Alliance of the Renewal]

[Atrius Night]

Captain Spider


His ship safely outside the city, the solar sailor walks with his great blade on one shoulder and the incongrous form of the sylph-like monkey on his other, his eyes wide as he thinks of the last time.

OOC;


00:50, Wed 18 Mar 2009: Atrius Night rolled (4d10v=3,6,6,8=23): Int + Awareness.


1 success


Also yes, Striga's a male.


and for the other PCs, Striga gives nightly (non-entrancing) concerts while the ship is underway.

 

[nobble]

Hiraeth


Hiraeth seems intent on his drinking as the ship pulls up to the gates of Balsa.


-------------------------


03-18 02:23:21 nobble - Hiraeth rolls 7 dice to int+aw Botch: -2


1,2,4,1,5, 4,3


I'm sure the die roller hates me QQ

 

[cyl]

The city still bore the marks of the battle that had taken place a few weeks and of the purge, but there was something strange on the ground, most of you passed through it without noticing it, but Spider remembered that he had seen a strange circular trail at the gates of the city, as if the land had been salted or burned.


Striga sang a sad song before saying with a bitter face:


"This whole city has been cursed... I can see the blasphemous patterns used here, they have to do something with death and the ground. It is so powerful..."


***


Esbilon: PM incoming.

 

[Coyotekin]

Jonas


He groaned at witnessing this...this....., well, when he thought of the right words he would feel better. For now though he didn't like it one bit, and neither did Jonas.


"Something just isn't right here, not at all."


With that he dismounted Jonas and patted his flanks, sending him away as he drew his scything blade.

 

[Renaissance Blonde]

Maressa looked around slowly as they entered the shattered city, Maren opting to stay behind out of caution. She narrowed her eyes at every detail she located, and openly had her oversized fans out, glittering with orichalcum.


---


OOC: Maressa rolled the following in his 5 dice:


1, 5, 10, 6, 3


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 2 successes.

 

[Atrius Night]

Reaching up to scratch the small simian's head the Solar Sailor nods. "That implies the reason behind the attack was to create the shadowland we're here to prevent......Keep your eyes wide folks, I'm guessing they will have left defenders for their investment and our presence won't be taken kindly." He says as he looks about the ghost town......

 

[Esbilon]

"Yes, that matches well with the evidence here. There is a ring all around the city, clearly indicating that the curse affects the entire city. Also, notice how there are no simple corpses lying around, they all turned to undead. Based on the damage to the houses, I would surmise that a small group entered the city and started killing the people, and then left the rest of the slaughter to the undead inhabitants. It is very strange how the holes in the ground from where the undead rose to attack do not seem to have been dug for their graves or anything like that, that is probably another part of the curse; it makes the earth swallow the undead inhabitants in order to ambush unwary investigators. We must find a way to lift this curse, otherwise there will be no way to stop a major shadowland from developing."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

White Lilly


White Lilly is saddened by Triumphant Truth's words. "I believe we got all of the undead creatures last time we were here, but it might be best to do another sweep of the city, just to be sure. While we search for clues within the city."


------------------------


Can we roll Invetigation or Lore to find out more about how to counter these signs?

 

[cyl]

***


Intelligence + occult

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

----------------------


White Lilly rolled the following in his 8 dice: (Intelligence + Occult)


5, 10, 3, 2, 2, 7, 2, 8


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 4 successes.

 

[Esbilon]

---------------------


Triumphant Truth rolls 6 dice to int+occ


3 successes


6,6,10,4,8, 5

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

White Lilly


White Lilly groans visibily after inspecting the symbols for a while, trying to figure out a means to counteract them.


"My friends, the situation is worse than we thought. I believe that the only way to lift this from the land is to cast a succession of powerful countermagic spells, and great geomancy to restore the land." As she speaks this she is shaking, and seems to be on the verge of tears. "I want to get to the bottom of this, and bring those responsible to this monstrousity to justice."


----------------------------------


She is gonna stay in Balsa, to restore the land, not to be a ruler. It would be a chance for her to learn more about the Art of Geomancy, and maybe extra Sorcery, but mostly, a chance to heal a wound of Creation, her Motivation.

 

[Renaissance Blonde]

"Lord of Light have mercy on us all," breathed Maressa, calling upon an ancient title of the Unconquered Sun, after Lilly stated how bad things truly were. "There's... Heaven and Earth... I think it'll take more than just Vargas to heal this."

 

[Atrius Night]

Glancing up to the circling form of griffon and rider, the Captainshakes his head...."Let's not dicount him too quickly here.....He's yet to even try...."

ooc;


07:18, Sat 21 Mar 2009: Atrius Night rolled (4d10v=1,5,8,10=24): Int + Occult.


3 successes

 

[cyl]

The circling turned into a quick dive towards you, only to slow down mere yards away, and Modjorak landed on the muddy soil of Balsa.


Taking his helmet off, Vargas looked grim.


"Well brothers and sisters, this is going to be a tough one... The whole city has been tainted and cursed, whoever did this was without a single doubt a deathlord. Though his essence seems somehow... dampened, the raw power he/she used and the remnants of his essence make this rather clear.


The good news is, I can remove the shadowland, the bad news being, I have no idea if I can lift the curse by myself.


It's simply the most powerful concentration of necrotic essence I have ever seen.


Even with the power I have been granted by the sun, I fear it will not be enough in itself to remove the curse. Which means as long as the curse stands, the city isn't safe for anyone."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

White Lilly


"My Lord Vargas, while we have no knowledge of the exact power granted you by the grace of the Unconquered Sun, we have come to realize the extent of this curse as well. After you lift the Shadowland I intend to stay here and work to remove the curse from this land using whatever abilities at my command." White Lilly is at once standing tall, yet almost on the brink of tears, as her fears are realized, and she wishes to defend the common folk from the harm that they are likely to suffer in the area.

 

[Esbilon]

Triumphant Truth


With a disbelieving look on his face Truth spoke: "A Deathlord? That certainly is a disturbing development. And it begs the questions; which Deathlord? and what interest does he have in Balsa? Is it something here, the city's location or is it just random chance? Also, do we know the exact extent of this curse? is its only consequence that the dead do not rest? or is there some other affects as well? There are altogether too many questions and too few answers for my liking."

 

[cyl]

Vargas put his hand on Lilly's shoulder and spoke with a reassuring tone:


"No need for tears sister, we have the power to change things in us, and we will, I promise !"


Filipo seemed concerned though:


"Well to tell the truth, Balsa is one of the first major stop for the trade caravans in this part of the River Province. The caravans start to sell and buy here and get some rest and some supplies for the rest of the road. Taking the city means redesigning the trade routes for all the south area and / or greatly slowing the trade and jade flow.


We have thought about taking Balsa by ourselves, but the political fall out would have been too risky for us considering our position."


Vargas turned walked in the city and spoke out loud:


"That does sound like something the Slayer of Nations would do, but his pride is great, and he would have claimed this felony by now... we're dealing with someone new here..."


He frowned and turned to the other exalts.


"Someone we don't know... Tell me again what happened with those people, supposedly deathknights, that you fought when you first entered the city ?!"

 

[Renaissance Blonde]

Maressa remained silent for the moment, listening intently. This was all information Maren could stand to need.

 

[Coyotekin]

Jonas


He arched a single brow at Vargas, "Um, actually it was a couple of Deathknights and quite a few undead. I think they went through and had their way with it. And those two were a bit of a tough lot to begin with."

 

[cyl]

Vargas frowned again.


"Are you sure they were deathknights, I vaguely remember one of you mentionning something strange about the way they behaved when you defeated them..."

 

[Atrius Night]

The Captain nods "Correct, the duo were not the true foes, simply unfortunate hosts to the malignant intelligences behind all of this. After the telling blows were struck, whatever it was, be it death knight or nemmisary departed allowing the hosts a last second of conciousness before the end...." There is regret in the Solar Sailor's voice, thinking back....

 

[cyl]

Vargas looked at every exalt present and took a grim face...


"Only spirits have the power to control the bodies of living mortals... I have fought many nemissaries since my second breath, and none of them could have been mistaken for a deathknight... and those wretched spirits use corpses with much more efficiency.


This... is troubling... it is obvious that a being of great power has been here, most likely a Deathlord, but why has he not left deathknights instead of those strange servants..."


***


Will be closing this chapter during the week


Next chapters up in two.