Connect the Dots (Part 3)
Log Info
- Title: Connect the Dots (Part 3)
- GM: Aftershock
- Place: Leca'fi Amdamu, the Castle on the Edge of Waking
Fiz nods seriously to Telamon and then he frowns a little. "Did you say magic circles in the head? That does sound familiar actually. Mmmm You should ask Driz he was the one who did our tracking you know, he kept a little notebook with nicknames of the really nasty ones that did stuff like put magic circles in people's heads. Maybe he can help you more." He pats the squirrel on the head and then looks at the others before squaring up with Telamon. "I think it's time for me to go then youngster. Say goodbye to my friends for me would you when you see them both? Tell them Fiz is doing fine, and tell them that our project turned out just fine. The Compellation of the Eternal is locked up for the moment but once they figure out how to use it... it'll be the boon it was supposed to be for everyone. And Albus... He'll be okay. He'll be okay."
Corey looks empathetic at Magpie's distress, knowing that the secret he's just imparted is why Magpie is currently reeling. He looks at Fiz and his Fiz-squirrel friend and offers a small smile. "Yeah," he says gently. "We'll have to talk to Diz. You rest easy now, okay?"
He looks at Telamon and Magpie at the mention of the Compellation of the Eternal, but he says nothing else for the moment. That talk can happen when they're not in the presence of a Vardaman servitor.
Telamon silently allows Fiz and the servitor to leave -- he's earned his rest, and his reward. Once the shade has departed, though, he takes a deep breath, turning to the others. "Well, that was somewhat encouraging. Filling in the gaps, as it were." His expression becomes stern as he looks at Corey. "However, we are not going to ask my wife to try to assassinate Cul. Not out of any qualms, mind you, but because I don't think we can fake 'being on the outs' a second time, letting her get close enough. Also, Pothy is known to the Unseelie Court; anything Lana does is going to be scrutinized heavily."
He sighs. "Sorry, Corey. I appreciate your faith in us, but I don't think we can pull that trick off twice." He snorts. "I should've kept Legus'elain's head, though. Stuck it in a jar of honey and brought it to the court as an object lesson. Ah well, if wishes were fishes, and so on."
"It was so good to meet you, Fiz," Magpie says, pressing her lips together to keep her smile from getting more than a bit wobbly as her new friend turns and departs for his well-earned peace. "Don't worry... I'll tell him."
Tears standing out in her eyes, she sits back down on her chair with a tump on the soft cushions. "So... the circle in the head is a signifier," she says, sniffling a bit. "And I guess we can only hope that Driz isn't in the same place, otherwise he'd've said something."
Tipping her head up and back, she stares at the door the wizard and the servitor exited through, as if expecting a 'one more thing' moment to happen... And when it doesn't, she clears her throat. "Compilation of the Eternal... I remember that one, do we know if it's still in lockup? Also, uh... Yeah wow this is turning into an even more 'a lot' than I thought..."
Auranar finishes her tea and sets the cup aside pointedly. No more of that. She sighs and shakes her head. "What we need is a better plan then. If not one of us to lure in this princeling then, then we need some other way to convince him to lower his guard. Or his mother to lower hers. We need some edge." She has a dark glitter in her eyes that says she'll take just about anything at this point. "Perhaps Koz'gon is the key after all. Surely the fiend knows some weakness we can exploit. If he is in a weak position at the moment perhaps we can exploit that."
GAME: Telamon rolls knowledge/religion: (7)+13: 20
"Maybe, but I admittedly don't know what that might look like considering he was just eaten by a little golden dragon not that long ago," Corey says thoughtfully. "Surely he's returned to the Hells. Summoned demons tend to return to their plane of origin upon dying. You have to kill them with more complicated means otherwise..."
Corey rubs his chin in thought. "How do we catch a fiend?" he murmurs. "Is it ethical to do so? I mean, it really depends on the school of ethics that one subscribes to. I'm rather fond of the writings of the sildanyari ethics scholar, Tellurion Atlon--"
Which makes Corey blink as he looks at Telamon. "Must be a distant ancestor of yours," he says with a smile. "But anyway! I think yes, because it will save some lives, and I am permitted such as a paladin, so long as the fiend is dealt with properly afterwards."
Telamon gestures for cups to be refilled as needed. "Sometimes fiends can reconstitute themselves, but when Aura dimensionally anchored him... plus, this wasn't just someone sticking him with a sanctified sword. Tanith is a herald of Eluna, a true power in her own right. She may well have permanently ended Koz'gon."
At Corey's remark, he grins. "A great-great granduncle. But still, worth reading. But we're getting into the thickets here." He takes a sip of his newly-replenished tea. "I think we need to try and call Dremarim, if he is dead. If not... we can meet with Tanith, ask her if Koz'gon is 'koz-gone'." He smirks, faintly.
With that, he takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Evior Maxium Dremarim," he recites calmly. And waits.
Rather than the expected entry of a servitor and a wizard, or no one at all, there is a very faint.... knock? Indeed. A half knock. A quarter knock. Upon being answered, there is indeed a wizard, or mage of some variation at the door looking somewhat perturbed in blue robes. "Evior Dremarim at your service, and who are you?" The curious bit however? Is the fact that he is quite... insubstantial... and lacking the expected servitor.
GAME: Corey rolls Knowledge/Arcana: Trained Use Only: 0 GAME: Telamon rolls knowledge/arcana: (7)+21: 28 GAME: Magpie rolls knowledge/arcana: (12)+16: 28 GAME: Auranar rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (3)+17: 20
"I mean," Magpie says, looking to Auranar, "I'm pretty sure I could upset the Queen enough to go for that duel... Not sure I could win a duel against the freaking Unseelie Queen, but that'd be a Future Magpie problem." Lifting her shoulders, she looks about the room, smiling bashfully. "I like to think I'm pretty good, but there's good and there's 'punching a weight class living on the moon' good, and I know what I'm really not."
"And Corey, isn't it, like, ethical to do anything to a demon that keeps it from doing anything it'd want to do? Imprisoning has a pretty long and illustrious histo--"
Telamon is calling for Dremarim's soul. This immediately locks the gnome's attention on Telamon, and the door.
And she looks pretty shocked to see... something come through! Kind of! You'd think a visitation from the Grey Halls would be more... substantial. And escorted. Exactly as the last dead wizard was.
"...Driz?" Magpie says, hesitantly. "That you? I'm Magpie, we're Albus' friends. ... ..... Where are you even calling from?"
Corey is no scholar of the arcane like Magpie and Telamon are. He studies Dremarin for a long moment, raising a brow, and when Magpie expresses her own question, he nods at that. "You're not being accompanied by a Vardaman servitor like Kiz was," he murmurs. Concern floods his eyes. "Are you perhaps some sort of... incorporeal undead? Like a ghost?" It's a valid question.
Telamon blinks as well, setting his teacup aside and rising to his feet. "Indeed. You would be Archmage Dremarim?" He offers a bow. "I am called Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon, sir, at your service. With me is my sister, Auranar, and my friends Core'thil and Magpie."
He tilts his head. "You seem... different, from the shades I have called in the past. Are you well? Why does no servant of the Harpist accompany you?"
Auranar rises to her own fee, preparing herself for a fight if need be. She doesn't approach the mage, but rather readies her bow and her arrows which she had brought with her just in case. One can never be too careful these days unfortunately. Dinner with Magpie amongst other things had taught her that. She doesn't greet Dremarin either, the others have seen to that as well, and Telamon is a better diplomat than she could ever hope to be in any case.
The mage blinks at the group of you and then frowns. "Because I am not dead of course. Where are you? Not on the material plane I gather. Somewhere between! Fantastic! I've been stuck here for ages! Give me your coordinates would you? The name of where you are perhaps? I'd rather like to get un-stuck!" He smiles rather hopefully.
The question is, can you trust him?
GAME: Telamon rolls sense motive: (13)+29: 42 GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (16)+19: 35
Corey frowns even more as he looks at Dremarin. "You're not dead? Where are you that you are stuck there yet are able to appear here when called?" He looks at Telamon, Magpie, and Auranar, hoping for some additional insight. "Unless it's just a quirk of this particular place..."
Speaking of which, he looks at Telamon in particular. "It's your domain, Telamon," he says with a small smile returning to his lips again. "You make the call. It seems like it's him to me."
If they were anywhere on Ea, Telamon might be a bit more nervous. But he's started experimenting here in the Castle on the Edge of Waking, and he's learned a few tricks. "Interesting. You must be in an in-between state, and that's why my call found you." He hmms. "Curious. In any case, we are at Leca'fi Amdamu, if you can reach that. If not, I can probably summon you to me."
"What's even been happening with you, Driz?" Magpie says, visibly relaxing when Telamon outright offers to summon him here. If the Paladin and the master of this domain aren't nervous about this new arrival, probably she shouldn't be, either. "You know between you and Kiz, the Guild's been secretly running scared lately. What's been going on?"
Auranar shrugs at Corey, unable to offer him additional insight as to where the wizard might be. She just doesn't know. She hopes that Telamon might have more insight actually, but Telamon seems happy to allow the mage to try and bridge the gap to this location so she simply readies herself for that eventuality. One way or another the mage is coming here!
The mage laughs. "If the master will let me in I suppose! I'll be there in a moment!" He makes a few motions with his hands, casting a complicated-seeming spell to bring himself into alignment with Leca'fi Amdamu and then quite suddenly he becomes solid and falls to his knees, seeming quite drained and a bit... well thin. Like he hasn't had a good meal in several weeks or so. "Oh my. That took more out of me than I expected. I kept myself alive with mana, but much longer and I fear I would have died in there!"
He looks up a bit wearily at Magpie's word and shakes his head. "I fear I was tricked by someone who was wearing the face of a mage. I thought him a friendly face, but he was looking to kill me. If not for my quick fingers to take me to a slightly more friendly dimension I'd be dead now. As it was I was stuck between places with no way to get free... foolish me."
GAME: Telamon casts True Seeing. Caster Level: 20 DC: 26
Corey furrows his brows a little, but then he brightens as it seems Dremarin passes whatever check he has in mind. "He's clear," he says to the room. "Not a whiff of evil on him. Hello, Archmage!"
He frowns very quickly on the heels of his good cheer, however. "Was this person wearing the face of someone you knew? Or just someone who was posing as a mage to get you to drop your guard?" He remembers that young man he'd caught that was possessed back at the mage's society.
Telamon casts a spell in turn, his eyes taking on a softly lambent glow as he regards Dremarim. Then he relaxes, and nods to Corey. "Indeed. Rejoice, Archmage Dremarim, for any fight you can walk away from is a victory." He gestures to the servants, before he moves over to help the gaunt looking man into a chair. "Food is coming. We have tea, as well." A cup poured for Dremarim, as Telamon hovers a bit.
"You wouldn't be the first to be taken by a fiend wearing a fair face. But I'd say you're very lucky as well." Telamon's face contorts into a frown. "Possessions and disguises. Some days I'm amazed Alexandria doesn't outlaw illusions and polymorph spells."
"...Oh good, it's not just me," Magpie murmurs, as Driz tells his story. "Also... Really, really good to see you in... um. Most of the flesh. We can fix that later, like Tela says food now. And where even were you? What was that spell? Did you actually hijack a summoning of the dead for communication? Did you know that's kind of awesome?"
As a thought occurs, Magpie blinks. "Also does this mean we don't have to hide Albus now?"
Auranar, realizing that the mage isn't their enemy sits down once more, looking a bit bemused by the situation. "You'll have to excuse us if we were a bit surprised by your entry, and confused by it as well. We were expecting you dead or alive, not... in between."
Dremarim smiles and allows himself to be herded into a seat, tea poured and he accepts it gratefully though he sighs a bit at it. "What I wouldn't give for real food again. It's what my body really needs you know. This dream stuff will make you feel full, but it doesn't really fill up your stomach."
He shakes his head and sips the tea anyways. "Still delicious. Simply posing as a mage to get me to drop my guard. Not even someone I knew. The creature was only after my room! The indignity of it all!" He huffs a sigh and then blinks at Magpie.
"Oh you know a bit of magic do you, well it's just a bit of hot-wiring spells together for the necessary... wait did you say Albus? Kiz? Is he around here?"
"Well, there's some theories about that, Archmage." Telamon replies with a grin. "I'm in the middle of writing a treatise on this place, and my theory is that it's much more 'real' here because it's not in the Dreamtime, just on the edge where it touches the Border Ethereal. It's similar to how shadow-spells work."
At this juncture, the door opens to admit a servant wheeling in a cart with a large pot of some exotic minty soup, along with a stack of flattened bread loaves. The servitor starts ladling soup into a bowl, as Telamon continues, "Albus is here, yes." He looks slightly distant for a moment, before nodding. "He'll be with us in a moment. But sadly, Fiz has passed away -- we had called him to try and answer questions about certain things troubling Alexandria." He doesn't want to lay it on too fast.
"He is at rest in the Halls," Corey says reassuringly, tagging onto Telamon's explanation of what happened to Frisgar. The mention of Dremarin's room makes Corey frown a little. "But yes, Albus is here."
Corey grins a little as he gestures to Magpie. "And here is his protege! The most splendid Magpie! I am called Cor'ethil Cari'thana--please call me Corey, I know it's long--and the other lovely lady with us is Auranar Lupecyll-Atlon, Telamon's sister-by-bond. And hopefully my friend. I hope."
The paladin blinks. "Oh! I'm a Warden of Gilead, as well, so hopefully that helps in making you feel at ease?" He looks a little bashful that he forgot that bit.
'Protege.' That's the first time someone has called Magpie that in her hearing, and just the thought is enough to make the gnome's spine straighten with some pride. "I mean," she says, immediately temporizing, "it kinda happened by accident, but... yeah. Albus is really, really good people, and when all this nonsense is done with I really need to get him a body. ... .....You'll see. Apparently pretty quickly, too. Anyway... what was in your room that he wanted, and did the guy explode into demony mist that could turn into bugs? Because, well, same."
Auranar leans forward here, certainly interested in learning what kind of being it was that had led to the poor mage being trapped inside of his little dimension being whittled away to almost nothing. She wishes she could slip him some cookies, but Telamon has him in good stead feeding him stew. (The instinct to feed someone who is hungry is one that she can't quite cull no matter how hard she tries.)
The stew is dug into with gusto and the old man looks at it like its his favorite food though it's probably just the first food he's seen in quite some time. "My gratitude. And I may be old, but I'm not so old and decrepit yet that I forget names when they're given to me right away." He frowns a little bit and waves his spoon at Corey. "I knew about Fiz. He's been gone for a while now. But Albus... What's going on with him? Wait... what's this about a body?" Driz stands up suddenly. "Demony mist? Is he fiddling with demons again?"
It is at precisely this moment that the servants bring Albus back into the room - or rather the simulacrum which is hosting his spirit. He hears his friend's words and startles for a moment before recognizing his boon companion. "Driz?"
"Kiz?" The equally confused word from Driz stops the tirade in it's tracks and the two wizards stare at one another, and though the simulacrum bears no comparison to Albus at all all to quickly the two wizards are embracing like old friends who have not seen one another in all too long.
This might be a minute.
There's a time to just be quiet, and Telamon is usually pretty good for recognizing them. As the two old friends hug, he smiles warmly, settling back in his chair again. Letting the duo have their moment.
"What we have," he says after a few minutes, "is a bit of a mess. We have: a powerful fiend, Koz'gon running around in Alexandria, causing havoc. One of his signature tricks is arranging for possession vessels to have a summoning circle inscribed inside their skull. This fiend is also working with, or for, a fey nobleman by the name of Cul the Cruel, who is the son of the Queen of Air and Darkness. Needless to say, this complicates things even further."
"And Fiz mentioned that you would know more about the kind of fiend that puts summoning circles inside of people's heads, Dremarin," Corey says with a little nod in Telamon's direction. "We were hoping you might be able to add onto what we already know... Such as, what happens to a fiend when they're eaten by a herald of a deity."
Corey waits a moment for that sentence to sink in, and then he goes, "No, really, we're not kidding. That happened. To Koz'gon, specifically." He still remembers well the sound of Tanith's lamentation of the fiend-bug.
To Magpie, the sight of the two old friends reuniting is equal to a hundred kittens, and she just claps her hands over her mouth, not even wanting to make a sound to interrupt the reunion.
But all too soon, adorableness gives way to business, and Magpie nods along with the summation. "Also the Guild has been low-key frantic about the two of you going missing," she chimes in. "I don't know exactly why, just that the three of you disappearing has them spooked like whoa."
Driz laughs and claps his friend on his back and smiles at Magpie. "Because we've paid up our dues Magpie girl. And when a mage pays his dues, he's entitled to a few things. Like more work than they've put in looking into what happened to the lot of us I'm sure. If any one of us is alive - which I am - they're about to be in a world of pain." The blue robed wizards blue eyes hold a strange light in them that says that the guild is about to have a lot to answer for. Not the least of which is the condition that Albus is in.
"As for this Koz'gon? To be certain you'd have to ask the Herald. But one of three things happened most likely. Either the fiend went back to it's home immediately. It died a terrible death. Or it's currently experiencing a most terrible torture." He smirks. Driz seems terribly amused. "Most goodly Heralds will hold fiends in some sort of capture and... toy with them in some way. But it really depends on the Herald and the mood that they're in and what kind of deity they serve right?"
Auranar looks at Telamon a bit thoughtfully. "So... Maybe if we offer a few... ahem... she might be inclined to answer a few questions for us?"