WotW: Call Forth Darkness IC - Page 9

Morbis Meh · 09-10-2012, 08:37 AM

Schtein thinks for a moment "The eyes do give off conjuration magic which is the school that powers rift magic so it is possible but we were told the next eye is in the caverns with the boggards. For the time being I suggest we leave these thrones as they are, we may have need of their abilities at a later time." He looks at the eye then at the assembled wealth before him and selects a ring which he places upon his finger. "I think it is time we pay a visit to our friend the boggard shaman, I believe he may have information regarding the relic we seek or at the very least we will have guides down there who may have encountered it. We should either seal up the door or take these coins with us, anyone have any thoughts on the matter?"

Razorstorm · 09-10-2012, 08:41 AM

"Seal up the door," Victor says. "We know how to get in, no one else does, and it's probably the most secure vault we could ask for right now. There's one eye here, and one in the bottom caves, but wasn't there supposed to be one on the second floor? I'm fine visiting our boggard friends again, if you'd prefer to start there."

Thattaman · 09-10-2012, 09:38 AM

"I would like to visit the boggards again. Last time I couldn't quite get a bodyguard but I've been researching thier language and I would quite like to take full control of them. If other people want Hexor and Vexor. Also if they might know something about the eyes then we should ask."

Morbis Meh · 09-10-2012, 09:45 AM

Schtein chuckles at his collegues plan "Knowing their language is far from having the ability to fully control the entire tribe. You would have to either become their chief, which by general rules of savage succession, is myself or their spiritual leader... You my dear wizard are not spiritual and if unless you can convince them you are a god then your efforts will be in vain. I do recommend not killing their shaman since that will most likely put the entire tribe in a frenzy and that is the last thing we need, so I will ask you to refrain from doing some silly rash action that you are accustomed to doing."

Thattaman · 09-10-2012, 10:06 AM

"Or I could kill an illusiory image of you in front of them which would be like succession but you wouldn't have to die. Anyway who's to say I can't be a god. I can just make myself look godly using my circlet."

Morbis Meh · 09-10-2012, 10:11 AM

Schtein sighs "That's only if we let you do something, killing an image of myself is silly because I will be going down as well and I refuse to skulk around to bend to your base desires. Any of us can appear godly if we so choose. Also tell me again why would we all want you to take control of a tribe when we as a group already have control? Don't give me any of that superiority bullocks because all of us here are equals in the eyes of our master and even you aren't even foolish enough to say you are better than he."

Thattaman · 09-10-2012, 10:16 AM

"I think I could run the boggards because I know how to control lesser people and know how to send fear through their brains, I have absolutely no emotional connecton to them and once they understand me they will stand in line. I am alos giving up the chance to have control over my won daemon. I know how to rule. I am rightfully a king you know."

Morbis Meh · 09-10-2012, 10:50 AM

Schtein laughs "You seem to forget that is was also myself who was responsible for pascifying the daemons, you have a short memory. As for controlling people you, in my opinion, have very little idea and your pumped up ego only blinds you. As for your station you in regard to birth I am equal to you; so unless you can tell me why we should endanger our current relationship with the boggards in order to inflate your already bloated ego then I say forget it, we have more important matters to attend to. However, if by some off chance you actually have a feasible plan and an actual reason I am all ears, heck I just may lend a hand but if you're planning to go in and run that fool mouth of yours and kill at random then I will put a stop to it immediately."

Thattaman · 09-10-2012, 12:34 PM

"I do have a paln, you see many weak-minded creatures are blinded by their religion. They will listen to anything that their religous leader says, so I cast charm person on it for today, to keep it in our favour, then tomorrow I'll cast suggestion, so that he will do whatever we ask it. Then my friends, we have complete control over our own boggard tribe."

Morbis Meh · 09-10-2012, 12:56 PM

Schtein moves the suggestion around in his mind and says bluntly "Unless the Shaman negates your spells effects and effectively turns a cooperative ally into a hostile religious figure with a cave full of fanatics... Don't underestimate someone based on their race and your clouded perceptions of their race."

Maugan Ra · 09-11-2012, 04:26 AM

Hexor clears his throat in a polite fashion. "With the greatest of respect for all of you, please try to remember that there is a difference between willing ally and subjugated servant." he says in his deep, rumbling voice.

"Right now, we are the former." Vexor continues. "We feel obliged to warn you that attempts to treat us like the latter would require us to take... unfortunate measures."

Hexor grins in a nasty fashion. "By which he means 'Disembowel you and hang you from the Horn by your gleaming innards'."

"Well, yes, though I was not intending to put it quite so... bluntly."

Victor

The fountain does indeed radiate conjuration magic, though less strongly than you would expect of a proper artifact.

Morbis Meh · 09-11-2012, 08:10 AM

Schtein turns to the two daemons "I know good sirs and your assistance has proven to be exceptionally valuable, we can only thank you for your help. Please just ignore this brute sometimes I truly wonder whether he is a wizard or not for his head is full of brick and ego. If you do choose to disembowel someone I would suggest him at the very least he has a greater constituion thus casuing him to scream louder and longer."

Thattaman · 09-11-2012, 09:43 AM

"I would not even think of trying to charm you two. You have proven too useful to lose and I wish to keep you in sound mind and I also wish to keep my internal organs pleasantly internal."

Maugan Ra · 09-11-2012, 10:50 PM

"Quite sensible. We are, to the best of our knowledge, immune to such mental effects in any case, but it is the intention which counts."

Spoiler

Razorstorm · 09-12-2012, 01:10 AM

Victor is mostly oblivious to the interchange with the demons, being very focused on his sketches of the floors. Suddenly, his head snaps up with an idea.

"The room with the murals! Summoning rituals. Conjuration. Let's go look there. You, follow me, now!"

He takes off to the second floor, his boots clomping down the hallway.

Maugan Ra · 09-12-2012, 01:59 AM

"Now what did I just say about acting like we are minions?" Hexor grumbles, looking slightly put out.

"Be fair, brother. At least he seems enthusiastic. And he might even have an idea or two about what is going on." Vexor points out. The two of them lumber off after Victor, bickering quietly to themselves.

The Murals

The walls on the second floor, once examined more closely, appear to detail four distinct rituals. The first is quite clearly the summoning of Hexor and Vexor, and their bindings to the heavy amulets that the two daemons wear around their necks. The mural appears to imply that even if the two are destroyed, they can reform once again in a month's time around their amulets.

The second shows a ritual designed to call forth some kind of canine beasts from the lower planes, which are depicted in great detail running down and devouring screaming enemies as they try to flee. The primary component seems to involve careful sacrifice of at least three adult dogs.

The third is evidently linked to the bubbling mud pits you discovered in the caves under the Horn. Apparently, if one combines the mud with chunks of obsidian from the heart of a volcano and chants a specific litany, the mud pits will become sentient and seek to slay anyone who might try to break in via the lower levels. The artist has gone into great detail showing how the living mud will simultaneously drown and boil the unfortunates it catches.

The last appears to summon forth a steed of some kind, a horse of smoke and living fire that will loyally serve whoever it is commanded to carry. Judging by the murals, the steed can actually fly, allowing its master to rain unholy annihilation from on high. Sacrificing a healthy adult warhorse seems like it would do the trick.

And finally, in the middle of all the murals and iconography, there is a carefully inscribed green star pattern. It looks slightly less weathered than the rest of the murals, and radiates a strong sense of conjuration.

Morbis Meh · 09-12-2012, 08:16 AM

Schtein approaches the green star pattern and quickly chants his minor but well used cantrip. After he has muttered the last few words in abyssal he focuses intently upon it in hope of narrowing down the specific location of the aura.

Spoiler

Maugan Ra · 09-12-2012, 10:21 AM

Careful analysis informs you that below the conjuration aura there is, in fact, an illusion. Or rather, the other way around. This section of the wall is an illusion, and the second Eye of Vetra-Kali is evidently stored behind it. Getting it out without touching it might be difficult, though, and since you don't yet know whether coming into contact with an Eye would be harmful or not, caution would likely be prudent.

Morbis Meh · 09-12-2012, 11:26 AM

Schtein smiles "Clever... well we now have 2 of the 3 accounted four let me just marks the walls here and we can carry on in locating the third..." He brings out a stick of chalk and marks the wall segement accordingly.

Spoiler

Razorstorm · 09-13-2012, 12:24 PM

Clearly thrilled that his deduction was correct, Victor carries forward with momentum. "Excellent, two down, one to go! Let's head back down to the cavern and continue our search. Remember those mud pits? There were man-made walls that seemed oddly out of place. Perhaps more illusion walls? I think we start there. Let's go!" He takes off, clearly expecting the others to follow.

Maugan Ra · 09-13-2012, 12:35 PM

You return to the caves level once again, seeking the third Eye. The cavern with the bubbling mud pits is still much as it previously was, and a thorough inspection of the walls confirms that they are all quite real.

Spoiler

Where would you like to search?

Razorstorm · 09-13-2012, 03:15 PM

Perturbed at being wrong, Victor sighs. "Well, let's look into the diamond room next. We barely searched that one previously."

Maugan Ra · 09-13-2012, 04:52 PM

The diamond room looks absolutely beautiful, a small side chamber where a natural vein of glittering gems has been exposed to the air. You aren't professional merchants, but you'd wager there's enough here to earn several thousand gold pieces in trading, if you could get them extracted from the wall.

Unfortunately, as you move in to inspect them, the floor gives way below your feet, and you plunge thirty foot down towards a solid stone floor studded with jagged stalactites.

Spoiler

Razorstorm · 09-13-2012, 06:48 PM

"Look o...!" Victor manages to squawk out as he feels the floor give way.
Victor deftly dodges the falling trap door and jumps to the side safely.

He quickly drops to his belly and looks over the edge to check on his companions.

Maugan Ra · 09-14-2012, 05:12 AM

You see Hexor and Vexor picking themselves up, wincing and grumbling as they extract broken shards of rock from their bodies.

"I think the Necromancer died." Hexor comments, looking over at Schtein's crumpled form. "A shame. He was reasonable, for a mortal."

Thattaman · 09-14-2012, 03:07 PM

Spoiler

Thattaman · 09-14-2012, 03:09 PM

Kydrak falls down one of the holes and impales himself, he manages to climb up with the last remaining strength. He then grabs at a healing potion and drinks it.

Maugan Ra · 09-14-2012, 07:31 PM

With a faint pair of crack noises, the two daemons leave the pit and return to your side, still grumbling. Hexor, though, peers back into the cave and smiles.

Well, when one wishes to hide a jewel..." he rumbles, gesturing towards the far wall and the glittering gems there. Most are pale white and blue, but the one right in the centre is a deep, malevolent green.

Razorstorm · 09-14-2012, 10:27 PM

Victor looks up from his belly at the wall and his jaw drops. He temporarily forgets about his companion and gets up and walks over to it, admiring the view.

Then he suddenly remembers Kydrak, rushes over to the hole and drops down a rope.

"Are we sure he's dead? Is there anything we can do? Does first aid work on a... whatever he is... was... you know know what I mean?"

Maugan Ra · 09-15-2012, 12:25 AM

"Our expertise tends more towards taking mortals apart than putting them back together, I am afraid." Hexor comments. "Still, I am fairly sure having a stalagmite protruding through your chest is a bad sign."

Vexor reaches up and taps the Eye, looking intrigued. The small chamber fills with a building hum, and the gem starts to glow as the daemon backs away, looking somewhat apprehensive. Then, words begin echo around the chamber, as though spoken by an invisible figure who had been waiting for just this moment.

"We have failed, my brothers. Our forces have been destroyed, our sanctum desecrated. And worst of all, our immortal lord, Vetra-Kali Eats-the-Eyes, has been banished back to Abaddon, never to return, because we were too weak to assist him."

You hear, in the distance, the echos of fighting and bloodshed, evidently captured in the recording decades ago. "But all is not lost! I have seen the road to repetance, my brothers, a way to undo the triumph of the Mitrans. It is blood, blood and piety. Six hundred and sixty six prayers will break the seal, and the blood of three will bring back our lord. I commit this secret to the Eye, in hopes that our descendants may some day do what we could not."

"At the stroke of midnight, one of our own must die upon the altar, fitting payment for our crimes. Bathe the seal in unholy water, and call forth the Supplication to Darkness, on that first night and every other to come.

"At dawn, intone the Cursing of the Light, to revoke the magic the Shining One uses to bind our lord in his realm. Upon the one hundred and eleventh curse, bleed one of Mitra's faithful on the alter, so that he might know we fear him not.

And as darkness returns to the world each day, roar out the Call Across the Void, so that our master can find his way back to us, his chosen servants. On the final call, make the final sacrifice, a descent of the one who first sealed him away. If the Victor's heir dies at dusk, then the Seal will break and at midnight, our lord shall return to us.

Rejoice then, brothers, but be wary, for his wrath shall be great. He shall surely destroy us all, less you stay his fury with a bargain. His Eyes were lost to him, and must be returned, and as is the way of daemon-kind a service shall be offered for each.

For the Eye of Vigilance, beseech him to stay his wrath from you and yours, less he slay you in fury. For the Eye of Withering, ask him for his masterpiece, the Tears of Achlys, so that all might know he has returned as they choke on their own blood. And for the Eye of Hatred, ask what you will, for our patron can be a generous one.

I go now to my death, to roar defiance once last time in the face of these Mitran dogs. To you, my distant and unknown cousins, I wish only good fortune. Ia, Vetra-Kali."

The recorded message ends, and for a long moment the chamber is silent. Hexor turns to regard his brother daemon.

"Now what have I told you about touching strange artifacts?"