Face Veralt
New
K0mori
Servant Supreme
Option 1: 7 Votes (88% - Range: 1-88)
Option 2: 1 Vote (13% - Range: 89-100)
Fae Roll: 66
Kulka puts up her hood. "Very well. Lead on, Terrorchild."
You know that her tone carries a whispered mockery. You realize that if you fail, it will mean not just your own death, but hers, your other allies', and many more once Veralt finds himself at the head of a fractured and unstable pact across Turadal. Your inability to trust anyone else with the task of preventing it must seem arrogant, but you can't care about that - Syrith's design has left you with a path to trace that's so thin it could fit through the eye of a needle, so the last thing you're going to do is surrender control to anyone else, especially someone you just met.
As you depart the Mage College, Kulka volunteers to assist your party in raising even more undead followers, and so you share access to the Door. The lich is unbothered by Embryx's request to avoid reanimating the bodies of children, and simply leaves them where they lie - pointing her cane this way and that and instilling constructs into the freshly-dead, all the while casually carrying on conversation.
"That mob you lot raised is good work," she remarks to Jannava. "I can see why Diala sought you out. I'm sure she was hoping for more, though."
Jannava looks back at her. "What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
The tiefling pauses and then nods. "...Right. I'm sure she'd have rather had a lich on her side."
"Until I showed up," you interject, "she must've had a different plan for taking on Kulka. Maybe the first part of that plan was extending her life."
"Obviously," Kulka confirms with a bit of annoyance. "I've been around for a hundred and twenty years, and it's been thirty since I died. Poor Diala probably only had another seventy years or so left to her with her elven half-blood and thought to herself, 'that's not enough time!' ...And she'd have been right. She could've spent a dozen lifetimes trying to catch up to me, and it never would've made a difference."
Embryx snickers at the comment. "Because you'd still have forty years' lead on her?"
"That, and because everyone hated her," you reply.
Kulka smiles, finally pleased with something you've said. "...That's right. She spread her poison all over the west of the Kingdom, making enemies of everyone, and convincing them to make enemies of each other. You couldn't kill her, Agranne, not alone. But you and just one more...?"
"We were lucky her guard was down," Embryx says, wistfully.
"Maybe so," Kulka agrees, "but she was not unlucky. She died exactly as her choices made appropriate. Once we've finished with this adventure, I hope that you'll take her lesson to heart, and be better than she was - all of you - but especially you, Sister Agranne. Mardenaal will need someone who can organize its circle back into unity, and direct its malice against its true enemies."
You shake your head. "It won't be me, at least... not immediately. I have something I have to do in Zuklanar."
"Oh? Have someone you want to resurrect?"
"Did you read my mind again?" you ask, uncomfortably.
She laughs again. "No... But why else would you be headed for Zuklanar in the dead of winter? Everyone at our level knows of the red comet's coming. At least I know why you want to keep the Door, now."
You sigh, increasingly frustrated with Kulka's overbearing wisdom. "...Then you know, but I don't, sister. Why do I need the Door?"
Kulka pauses uncomfortably and turns to face you, her humor gone and replaced with concern. "I- I'm sorry, but do you not know that only one can be resurrected...? The elder sisters of all Gondia will be converging in the Edniewebotm to face one another and grant that choice to the strongest and wisest among us. I had assumed you knew this, and you were keeping the Door to increase your chances of being selected. But then I would've warned you... It would do you no good. You are no one in the eyes of the elders, collectively - my own thoughts aside."
"What?"
Somewhere deep inside of you, in the ugliest, darkest pit of your soul, a smile rips its way across a set of lips which you can hardly recognize as your own. No, something has broken. Too much has been denied to you in life. This is not a desire you will relinquish, or else your heart would be consumed by that hungering shadow. The other sisters stop their work as well and look to you in fear. Only Kulka remains unshaken as she stands with her cane at rest, her rotted face hidden beneath her hood and yet still exuding empathy for your lost cause.
Embryx finally tries to break the silence, but is cut off by your anger shearing you apart like an over-wound spring finally brought to snap. "Agranne-"
"RaaaaaAAAAAARGH!!!"
The others, Kulka included, are shaken and step back as your primal scream is accompanied by a blast of power - not telekinetic force, nor a soul-rending swipe, but pure, unbridled power. It ripples through the ground in every direction, a swirl of black magic escaping your hands as you clutch your head and jaw, and giving way to a reddish hue - one you've seen once before, but since forgotten. That day in the woods, when you first met Corrinth... The last time you felt so hopeless and yet so unwilling to accept it. All of them can sense it: your power washing over them, as if their mere presence was a compulsive struggle which you were winning.
"Agranne, please don't...!" Embryx urges you. "Please...!"
And then, with a screech of agony and despair, you collapse to the ground and master that horrible strength again. "...Come on," you demand, barely able to prevent yourself from breaking into sobbing. "...We have to stop Veralt."
"I- I didn't mean to upset you," Kulka rasps. "If... If I can help you-"
"First, Veralt! Nothing else, until he's dead!" you roar at her.
Ahead of you, the bridge across the castle's moat - a thin, steep stone trench that encircles the walls outside the keep - is raised to its vertical position. You reach out with telekinesis and rip it free from its chains, setting the bridge across the gap with an ominous crash that leaves the chains dangling in the air. The fortress within is a byzantine complex, and your entrance has alerted friend and foe alike, but you only see red. You turn to your amassed army of thralls and ghouls and wave them in, and they charge ahead with murderous intent.
1. Accompany the Charge - You'll take out your anger on the royalists in the yard, leaving no one standing as you carve a path into the keep, toward Veralt and his pathetic scheme. Kulka mocked you for your ignorance before, but you'll show her how badly she's underestimated you.
2. Move Ahead Alone - You no longer care about the "battle" beyond this point. All you care about is destroying Veralt, Fiola, and anyone else who sought to betray you. You take off in flight, searching the castle grounds for the rest of your pact.
3. Come at the King - You can fly and teleport through walls; no defenses can slow you down. You decide to decapitate this Kingdom first, and then meet Veralt from the opposite direction from where he expects you.
Option 2: 1 Vote (13% - Range: 89-100)
Fae Roll: 66
Kulka puts up her hood. "Very well. Lead on, Terrorchild."
You know that her tone carries a whispered mockery. You realize that if you fail, it will mean not just your own death, but hers, your other allies', and many more once Veralt finds himself at the head of a fractured and unstable pact across Turadal. Your inability to trust anyone else with the task of preventing it must seem arrogant, but you can't care about that - Syrith's design has left you with a path to trace that's so thin it could fit through the eye of a needle, so the last thing you're going to do is surrender control to anyone else, especially someone you just met.
As you depart the Mage College, Kulka volunteers to assist your party in raising even more undead followers, and so you share access to the Door. The lich is unbothered by Embryx's request to avoid reanimating the bodies of children, and simply leaves them where they lie - pointing her cane this way and that and instilling constructs into the freshly-dead, all the while casually carrying on conversation.
"That mob you lot raised is good work," she remarks to Jannava. "I can see why Diala sought you out. I'm sure she was hoping for more, though."
Jannava looks back at her. "What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
The tiefling pauses and then nods. "...Right. I'm sure she'd have rather had a lich on her side."
"Until I showed up," you interject, "she must've had a different plan for taking on Kulka. Maybe the first part of that plan was extending her life."
"Obviously," Kulka confirms with a bit of annoyance. "I've been around for a hundred and twenty years, and it's been thirty since I died. Poor Diala probably only had another seventy years or so left to her with her elven half-blood and thought to herself, 'that's not enough time!' ...And she'd have been right. She could've spent a dozen lifetimes trying to catch up to me, and it never would've made a difference."
Embryx snickers at the comment. "Because you'd still have forty years' lead on her?"
"That, and because everyone hated her," you reply.
Kulka smiles, finally pleased with something you've said. "...That's right. She spread her poison all over the west of the Kingdom, making enemies of everyone, and convincing them to make enemies of each other. You couldn't kill her, Agranne, not alone. But you and just one more...?"
"We were lucky her guard was down," Embryx says, wistfully.
"Maybe so," Kulka agrees, "but she was not unlucky. She died exactly as her choices made appropriate. Once we've finished with this adventure, I hope that you'll take her lesson to heart, and be better than she was - all of you - but especially you, Sister Agranne. Mardenaal will need someone who can organize its circle back into unity, and direct its malice against its true enemies."
You shake your head. "It won't be me, at least... not immediately. I have something I have to do in Zuklanar."
"Oh? Have someone you want to resurrect?"
"Did you read my mind again?" you ask, uncomfortably.
She laughs again. "No... But why else would you be headed for Zuklanar in the dead of winter? Everyone at our level knows of the red comet's coming. At least I know why you want to keep the Door, now."
You sigh, increasingly frustrated with Kulka's overbearing wisdom. "...Then you know, but I don't, sister. Why do I need the Door?"
Kulka pauses uncomfortably and turns to face you, her humor gone and replaced with concern. "I- I'm sorry, but do you not know that only one can be resurrected...? The elder sisters of all Gondia will be converging in the Edniewebotm to face one another and grant that choice to the strongest and wisest among us. I had assumed you knew this, and you were keeping the Door to increase your chances of being selected. But then I would've warned you... It would do you no good. You are no one in the eyes of the elders, collectively - my own thoughts aside."
"What?"
Somewhere deep inside of you, in the ugliest, darkest pit of your soul, a smile rips its way across a set of lips which you can hardly recognize as your own. No, something has broken. Too much has been denied to you in life. This is not a desire you will relinquish, or else your heart would be consumed by that hungering shadow. The other sisters stop their work as well and look to you in fear. Only Kulka remains unshaken as she stands with her cane at rest, her rotted face hidden beneath her hood and yet still exuding empathy for your lost cause.
Embryx finally tries to break the silence, but is cut off by your anger shearing you apart like an over-wound spring finally brought to snap. "Agranne-"
"RaaaaaAAAAAARGH!!!"
The others, Kulka included, are shaken and step back as your primal scream is accompanied by a blast of power - not telekinetic force, nor a soul-rending swipe, but pure, unbridled power. It ripples through the ground in every direction, a swirl of black magic escaping your hands as you clutch your head and jaw, and giving way to a reddish hue - one you've seen once before, but since forgotten. That day in the woods, when you first met Corrinth... The last time you felt so hopeless and yet so unwilling to accept it. All of them can sense it: your power washing over them, as if their mere presence was a compulsive struggle which you were winning.
"Agranne, please don't...!" Embryx urges you. "Please...!"
And then, with a screech of agony and despair, you collapse to the ground and master that horrible strength again. "...Come on," you demand, barely able to prevent yourself from breaking into sobbing. "...We have to stop Veralt."
"I- I didn't mean to upset you," Kulka rasps. "If... If I can help you-"
"First, Veralt! Nothing else, until he's dead!" you roar at her.
---
You reach the castle. The approach is nothing but a blur to you, but you vaguely recall killing a few dozen guardsmen who attempted to ambush you at points along the way, and whatever it is you did to them was enough to ensure that their bodies couldn't be raised again. Behind you, beyond your capability to grant attention, your pact sisters and Kulka discuss you and your future - their voices quiet and full of uncertainty.
Ahead of you, the bridge across the castle's moat - a thin, steep stone trench that encircles the walls outside the keep - is raised to its vertical position. You reach out with telekinesis and rip it free from its chains, setting the bridge across the gap with an ominous crash that leaves the chains dangling in the air. The fortress within is a byzantine complex, and your entrance has alerted friend and foe alike, but you only see red. You turn to your amassed army of thralls and ghouls and wave them in, and they charge ahead with murderous intent.
1. Accompany the Charge - You'll take out your anger on the royalists in the yard, leaving no one standing as you carve a path into the keep, toward Veralt and his pathetic scheme. Kulka mocked you for your ignorance before, but you'll show her how badly she's underestimated you.
2. Move Ahead Alone - You no longer care about the "battle" beyond this point. All you care about is destroying Veralt, Fiola, and anyone else who sought to betray you. You take off in flight, searching the castle grounds for the rest of your pact.
3. Come at the King - You can fly and teleport through walls; no defenses can slow you down. You decide to decapitate this Kingdom first, and then meet Veralt from the opposite direction from where he expects you.
