To Kill a Primordial - IC

[Random Word]

Spoiler: Mechanics

Rolling to Declare Fact

Using Dead Insights to take a specialty in Lethe and applying World-Lore Consumption. Dead Insights grants X non-charm successes where X is the number of Skull Diary skulls she has, max 5. It's up to you how many skulls she can plausibly have acquired by Essence 2. 3, maybe? World-Lore Consumption adds Essence non-Charm successes.

Full Excellency, peripheral so she starts bleeding and her anima glows.

Lore 5 + Int 5 + Specialty 1 + Excellency 10 + Stunt 2 = 23 dice + 3-7 non-Charm successes

23 successes, so 26-30 successes total. The Neverborn concur, I think.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Satisfied, she turns back to the matter at hand. "You will be most pleased to learn, fair Knight, there is an entire land filled with Primordials for you to slay, and I shall happily take you there any time you request it that I may enjoy watching you generously bequeath your Exaltation to the next generation," she observes drily.

The Knight rolls his artifact eye at the words of his colleague but a look of light indignation crossed his face.

“Why my sister in darkness! Why the lack of faith? Why the limited ambition? It can be done with time and ingenuity. Such was the original sin of the lawgivers before the baptism of there exaltations. You even acknowledge that the great makers carefully laid plans and creation can be broken. Breaking his cycle of souls is one step among many.”

 

[Random Word]

"I will grant with enough incarnations you will eventually kill anything you collectively set your minds to, as the lawgivers proved. I, however, have ambitions to succeed without dying again. The first time proved quite a boon to my work, the second I think will be much less so."

 

[EbonChevalier]

“Then we’ll be careful about it. Know the enemies weakness, ensure their strengths can’t be used. Cut of his support and take there heads. We just play the long game, the death of primordial is an opportunity to great to pass up.”

 

[Psychie]

The Dark Lady laughs, saying, “We have much to learn about these people end where they come from before we can set any concrete plan into motion. While I would celebrate the death of another Primordial, doing so must be done with caution so our own existences are not cut short. I will interrogate our two guests, and as for the rest of you, prepare yourselves for a journey. Make contact with these invaders and find out where their portal to their home is and use it to gather intelligence on how they live and work. Just infecting one person will do us no good. We have to make the death toll on an epic scale in order to create new shadowlands and try to connect them with us in a place where we can best capitalize on them. “

 

[MasterDAF]

Deathbringer listened to his fellow deathknights as they wavered between stubborn practicality and salivating at the opportunity to seed a new plane with the blessings of their patrons.

He turned to his armor clad brethren. "Yes, to make our way into the wayward brother of our slumbering tomb-gods would provide ample opportunities for advancing our agendas, preaching the chivalry of death to those currently blind to it, or indulging in-" the puissant Abyssal paused for a second, his mask-covered gaze briefly focusing on Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains, "certain predilections."

He raised a gloved hand towards Scion, "but as it has been pointed out, it would behoove us to tread carefully in our attempt. Perhaps keep our presence to the shadows for now, lest our prey learn too much about us and call upon contingencies built by the Great Maker himself. If my histories have taught me anything about him, it seems he would be the kind to plan for every known obstacle, regardless how outlandish it appears. I must assume his mystery Chosen are of a similar mindset."

The Dark Lady laughs, saying, “We have much to learn about these people end where they come from before we can set any concrete plan into motion. While I would celebrate the death of another Primordial, doing so must be done with caution so our own existences are not cut short. I will interrogate our two guests, and as for the rest of you, prepare yourselves for a journey. Make contact with these invaders and find out where their portal to their home is and use it to gather intelligence on how they live and work. Just infecting one person will do us no good. We have to make the death toll on an epic scale in order to create new shadowlands and try to connect them with us in a place where we can best capitalize on them. “

Deathbringer nods in deference to his dark liege, and without another word he makes his way back out of the throne room to confer with his waiting priests. There was much to do, and so little time to do it.

 

[Gravitational Force]

A fragment of her bone pierces the tip of her index finger, pointed and sharp, and with it she carves intricate runes in the blasphemous script of the Neverborn into the fragments of the unfortunate Solar while she listens to the conversation, rivulets of liquid soulsteel following behind to inlay her creation. Finally, her work complete, she presents it to Hunger, "Behold: chopsticks. That I might never again suffer to watch you eat noodle soup with your hands. Taste your victims with these and you will take into yourself a modicum of their power."

Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains's massive fingers manipulate the chopsticks with surprising dexterity. Deciding the Deathlord's unlikely to care he uses them to eat the tongue he ripped out of the Solar, hoping to gain an immediate benefit from doing so.

He ignores the soup comment. It's not his fault his massive size makes it easier to tilt the bowl into his mouth instead of using a spoon. And even if it was he'll eat how he pleases. And who he pleases.

He turned to his armor clad brethren. "Yes, to make our way into the wayward brother of our slumbering tomb-gods would provide ample opportunities for advancing our agendas, preaching the chivalry of death to those currently blind to it, or indulging in-" the puissant Abyssal paused for a second, his mask-covered gaze briefly focusing on Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains, "certain predilections."

"Enough talk. We all get what we want out of this so let's go."

Before he leaves he points his grimscythe at the two prisoners.

"Everyone you've ever cared about, everyone you've ever known, they're all going to die horribly. Slowly, in the worst pain they've ever known. And they'll die cursing your names because this is only happening to them. BECAUSE. YOU. WERE. WEAK."

He guffaws, a wet, gurgling, sadistic belly laugh.

Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains sees little point in the Chivalry of Death, he'd spread despair, break the strong, and send all of Creation into Oblivion even if he wasn't commanded to. Because the joy he feels seeing the despair on the faces the two prisoners is all the reward he needs.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Cuckoo of the Endless Facets was once again shrugging at the words of Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains, and not for the first, or last time. But he remains as stoic as he can, while sending more of his thoughts to Scion of the House of Bone and Ash "Forgive me Dark Sister, but I think I can be of help to infiltrate the army camp, and figure out their cycle of reincarnation, and on the way bring back more of their technology for us to study. Do you have any possible pointers as to where I should start? Hunger's path is blunt, but he can serve as a distraction."

 

[Random Word]

The Scion of the House of Bone and Ash is irreverant, abrasive, and quick to deploy her caustic wit, but she is not suicidal. She is unfailingly polite and courteous to the man with the unnerving knack for appearing out of nowhere beside her with a seemingly endless supply of concealed weapons. There are simply too many nights she stumbles from the ritual room or workshop without the protection of her constructs, bleary-eyed, to collapse in her chambers. Too many intoxicating nights spent revelling in Stygia. Countless opportunities for a knife in the dark to bring an ignoble end to her unlife.

"Even my genius cannot divine the structure of a realm none have set foot in for millenia. Once we arrive in this new world I will be able to perform ritual murders of suitable victims to trace the path of their souls and locate the nexus of the cycle. Until then, do as you do best and learn all you can of these people."

She rolls her eyes at Hunger's theatrics. "Small mercies they cannot understand him. Their assistance will prove invaluable. As he hungers, so do I, but my appetite is for knowledge. Without knowledge of our enemies we attack blind and unarmed. A more subtle touch is required to guide the knife."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Scion of the House of Bone and Ash was by far one of his most dangerous opponents, not for her fighting skill, which was still formidable with her constructs and her Necromancy, but more due to her sharp mind. A quick wit and a store of knowledge is far more dangerous than the bluntness of Hunger's direct approach.

"Your genius is very much appreciated. Should we make plans to 'visit' one of these camps, so we can extract the information? Or would you prefer I go there alone, and bring back a mortal to a rendezvous point? I will also strive to find out more about these new Exalts, since they can be the biggest threat to our plans."

 

[Psychie]

Before everyone can split off, the Deliverer says, "I will interrogate these two and will share with you what, if anything, that they can tell me. In the meantime, make your plans to travel out of Shadar Logoth." Looking at the nearest guard, she says, "Bring them to my workshop. I'll put them to the question there." With that, she rises and glides out of the room.

Two hours later, messengers come and find you and instruct you to come to the Library where you are to meet the Dark Lady with what she has learned.

As you enter, the Deliverer is already there in her customary seat, wiping away blood from her hands, but otherwise ignoring the dark stains on her clothes. Drinks are served to you as you wait for everyone to arrive, with your patron sitting silently. Once everyone is there, she begins with, "I have learned some items of interest from our two guests. It is true that the invading army is from Autochthon. No amount of pressure that I could apply would change that fact in their minds. They have a long oral and written history of their time inside the body of the Great Maker, from the early days where they struggled to survive up to the modern era where their Eight Nations have spread out and made many great metropoli, developed from the very bodies of their Exalts as they rise in Essence level. First off, they spoke of a scarcity of resources that has forced them to develop the ability to pierce the barrier between their home and Creation, where they have been stripping raw materials from our world to take back to theirs. These people are like . . . locusts, consuming everything they come in contact with as they try to restore their own cities back inside Autochthon."

"Next item of interest is what they told me of their Exalted; they are not people as we would think, but instead are created by scientists into one of five different types based on the five Magical Materials. Their power level is described to me as being somewhere between a Terrestrial Exalt and a Celestial, and since they are constructed, their numbers are greater than any we have here, save possibly for the Dragon Blooded." Her eyes sparkle at this, imagining the throngs of these Exalts working for the end of Creation at her command. "These Champions are not the rulers of these cities of Autochthon, but instead they serve the people that rule, called the Tripartite Assembly, that makes up the ruling class of all of these Eight Nations." She pauses to take a sip of wine from the goblet she has in hand, then continues.

"According to the two I questioned, there are a total of four of the Eight Nations involved in this invasion: Estasia, Yugash, Kamalak, and Sova. There is limited contact between Nations and not all were willing to contribute to the invasion of Creation. Also according to our two guests, Estasia is the only one of the Eight with a formal standing military, with the others pulling conscripts in to form their fighting force along with war machines that they create and these Champions."

With a smile, she says, "The population density of these metropoli is great, but they don't have a problem with disease despite their packed quarters. That will be a factor against us spreading the Great Contagion, but to our benefit, the Contagion is extremely contagious, so it will spread from person to person with ease. Idealy, we find a way to spread the disease as wide as possible before symptoms start to present, and by that time, the very people themselves become our means of transporting the disease even wider."

"Every member of their population has one of these gems inserted into their foreheads." She raises up a pair of gems that she was holding in her hand. "They call them soulgems, and they are used to collect and recycle the souls of all that die. Anyone attempting to infiltrate their population in secret will need to have one of these gems on their forehead or else they will immediately be recognized as foreigners from Creation and will be spotted. Upon death, the souls are collected and cleaned in preparation for use by another child. This means that there are not any ghosts there like there is in Creation. Think on the implications of this."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Cuckoo thinks of a bunch of questions and fires them off to the Dark Lady in a mental missive "Do we know what distincitve features their Champions have? What specialties they have based on the Magical Material? What happens if one loses their soulgem? What are the relations between the various Nations? Where is their base?"

 

[Psychie]

Cuckoo thinks of a bunch of questions and fires them off to the Dark Lady in a mental missive "Do we know what distincitve features their Champions have? What specialties they have based on the Magical Material? What happens if one loses their soulgem? What are the relations between the various Nations? Where is their base?"

The Deliverer looks over at Cuckoo and says, "You must understand that these two were simple soldiers, and so were not as educated on the varieties and the powers of these Exalted of theirs. Apparently there are differences in Anima power based on the type of metal that they are made of, but they don't know details on just what the different kind of powers that the different kind of Exalts have. The Exalts are placed on a pedestal in their minds, so much of what they told me I regard as suspect. The removal of a soulgem happens only on rare occasions where a vile crime as been perpetrated by the person, putting them into the lowest strata of society as nearly slave labor with little to no rights at all. It doesn't seem to cause any harm to the person at the time, but this does prevent the soul from making its 'normal' path to enlightenment through resurrection, and it then goes onto some path that was unknown to them."

She takes another sip of her drink and says, "The nations have all been at war with one another during their time in exile in the body of the Great Maker. Apparently, there is no map to the interior layout because everything is fluid and moving slowly but continually, so an ally might be close by one day, but decades later they are far and away across what they call Blight Zones, which by their description, sounds similar to a shadowland, where the body of Autochthon seems to be withering away. It may be that Autochthon is dying off after his thousands of years of isolation. Now, while that is interesting, we still need to get some on-the-scene information about this before we can act in any effective manner. Their base in Creation is somewhere in the southwest part of the map, but being foreign to Creation they are not positive as to the exact location, but it sounds like the Font of Mourning where the metropolis of Ot made its entrance into Creation for the first time."

 

[Sherwood]

Voice that Whispers listens with interest as her Mistress talks. "M'lady, what of demons? Does Malfias have any connection or contact with the interior of Autochthon?"

 

[Psychie]

The Dark Lady shakes her head. "No contact at all up to this point or else we would have heard of this from someone of the hordes of Malfias before. Now that the portal is open, I believe that contact with the demon realm is now possible, but it is not guaranteed until I can learn more of just how the connection between Autochthon and Creation is made."

 

[MasterDAF]

The patient deathknight listened as Voice, and he assumed Cuckoo as well based on the Deliverer's response, attempted to ply additional information from their liege. He looked around the room as the conversation progressed, ignoring the majority of their inane line of questioning while placing his focus instead on the grandeur of his master's library.

Withered Deathbringer of Desicated Sands and Unholy Glories was quite proud of the well stocked library he had worked hard to cultivate. The last two years had provided ample opportunities to salvage ancient tomes from their unworthy previous owners in Creation. Ahm Bayîs had become a beacon of knowledge amongst the Literary Scholars of the 7th Coil in the Underworld. The Abyssal hosted an annual conference to discuss the speculated metaphysics of necromancy and the finer points of efficient spellshaping. It was thus all the more unfortunate that his library should be viewed as second rate in relation to that of the Deliverer.

She doesn’t even utilize my 'deathly decimal system' to catalogue her collection. How does she find anything? What takes me mere moments to do might take her upwards of hours, a horrendous waste. If she were to —.

Deathbringer's thought was interrupted by the mention of blight zones, and their possible similarity to shadowlands.

Hmmm, that could prove useful.

"Perchance," the deathknight took a step forward, his dark robes swaying as he addressed his undead mistress. "If there is any more information to be gleaned from these so-called 'blight zones,' it seems most advantageous to send an apostle of the Void to commune with them."

He briefly turned his covered gaze upon his fellow exalts to either side, as though searching for a missing Midnight caste amongst them. Then Deathbringer allowed the pure black disk to bloom upon his brow, the absence of light being visible even beneath his mask. He bowed deeply to the Deathlord. "You would do me a great honor, tasking a priest such as myself with this mission." He maintained his forward lean, waiting to resume his normal posture until she had addressed his request.

 

[Psychie]

The Dark Lady chuckles. "I believe that it would benefit if you all go investigate this. I want all of you to learn as much as you can about these people and find how to capitalize on their weaknesses. Find out how their portal between worlds works so we can use it to spread the Contagion amongst their numbers. I want to be able to raise up the largest army of the dead that has ever been seen before. These new Exalted would be a real asset in our army if it can be made possible. So go forth and make it possible. I want to raise up my new throne in the heart of Autochthon."

 

[Sherwood]

OOC do we know of any shadowlands in the area of the Font of Mourning that we can use?

Edit: or can I use my Whispers to Introduce Facts about a shadowland I know of in that area?

 

[Psychie]

OOC do we know of any shadowlands in the area of the Font of Mourning that we can use?

Edit: or can I use my Whispers to Introduce Facts about a shadowland I know of in that area?

Yes you can.

 

[Sherwood]

Trying to visualize the map of Creation in her mind, Voice says, “I know of a small shadowland in that area that we can use to transit from here to Creation. It isn’t very large so it may have avoided detection by the invaders, especially if they don’t have such land in Autochthon. It will take some time to get there, and the small size will slow us depending on how large of a force we travel with.” She glances over at Scion as she mentions this, knowing that the other woman will probably want her armed forces with her as they travel.

 

[MasterDAF]

Deathbringer rose, disappointed at his master's response but doing his best to keep the lack of enthusiasm from displaying in his body language. He nodded to his liege in acknowledgement before stepping back towards his fellow Abyssals.

"As you wish."

He listened to Voice discuss the shaowland they might stage their emergence from. He was not familiar with the political landscape in that region, and felt a small rush of frustration at having to take her word as fact on the matter.

Something to research further after I take my leave of Shandar Logoth.

The undead exalt turned to address Voice. "This shadowland you've proposed; to what scale does it exist? A singular passageway, a small village?"

His robed arms came forward until his supple leather gloves met at the center of his chest. Faint audible popping noises could be heard as he pushed the knuckles underneath against the flat of his open palm, then slowly switched his hands over to perform the action a second time.

"Not all of us choose to travel as yourself," he verbally needled her. "Some may wish to travel with a retinue, and reinforce rememberance of the Old Laws upon those we encounter on our shared journey."

 

[Sherwood]

Voice does her best to avoid getting irritated with Deathbringer, knowing that he has his ways of doing and looking at things that sometimes she does not see. In response, she says, “It is an old graveyard where a legion stood against the Fae and died to the last man, leaving their corpses there to rot until years later when a small town sprouted up nearby. The residents were chased away by the hungry ghosts of the fallen, leaving the whole area uninhabited. It is the perfect place to make our crossing from the Underworld to Creation and be right in the heart of the invaders, unseen in their bosom like a serpent in the grass until we strike. The other option I can think of is to approach from a distance and try to make contact in a formal sense, and see what it is we can negotiate from them before we slaughter them all. Either way, we will walk the halls of their cities surrounded by their dead.”

 

[EbonChevalier]

"I am of mind with sister Voice on this. If we are merely gathering information there no need for any force beyond ourselves." He thought for a second on what could be found in that area. Materials magical or not. Then frown when he couldn't think of anything. "Finding what they what beyond the obvious, food and water is paramount. IF Autochthon is dying then they might also be looking for a way to save him. Creation is a place of abundance compared to their world." He steepled his fingers together. "And we cannot allow that."

 

[Gravitational Force]

Hunger Clad in Eight Broken Chains is pretty sure the options The Voice That Whispers From the Heart of Darkness is offering is an ambush or diplomacy.

He has little liking for either.

Withered Deathbringer of Desiccated Sands and Unholy Glories's idea on the other hand seems more likely to result in combat.

The massive Dusk Caste clenches his outstretched fist.

"Withered Deathbringer of Desiccated Sands and Unholy Glories is right. The Nightmares of War will provide troops to deal with the rabble while I break their champions. You can sneak in your plague while I lead a frontal assault. They'll wall themselves in with the Great Contagion to escape my hunger."

 

[Sherwood]

Voice rolls her eyes and replies with, "And how are we going to take on the whole of the military force that is rolling over all that stand before it, with just the few soldiers and golems that we have? Against a force that can create a nearly unlimited number of Exalts with unknown powers?" She shakes her head. "We need information first. They may be able to nullify our dead with their own powers. We have no idea what we're up against, and without more intelligence on them, we would only be throwing resources away."