Raid on Albrechts Realm
TimBarnes
2008/02/17 19:05

Table of Contents

Fey game 3rd June 2006
Story starts in Finnvar?s camp
Domnall (Finnvar?s inner retinue) arrives at the council, bringing a lady with him. She has a raven tattooed across the side of her face to her mouth and throat. [Lyris] . Rachel? She sang the song in the Hall of the Dead. She has been sent with the intention of joining Finnvar?s retinue. Her bodyguard is called Otto Galland (human, with mid C19 Austro-Hungarian uniform). Anya welcomes them both. Finnvar accepts [Lyris] as one of his outer retinue and goes to tell Cairfiacc that [Lyris] is ?off-limits?. Cairfiacc is genuinely surprised that [Lyris] has gone to Finnvar but reacts well. He says to Finnvar that he is prepared to wait ? if or when Finnvar is no longer around, he will then go after [Lyris] again.
Aislinn asks Sophie why she is trusting of the League of Enchanters as she has had reasons to not trust them. The young princes want to set up a school to train potential new princes ? so they don?t become black druids. It is suggested that potential princes could do ?placements? with current princes to learn the ways, without current princes without having to leave their own realms unattended. Seven Seagulls has part of the Song of Gaia in him. He?s a normal fey, his liege lord is Neska of the Kothar (she is head of the Kothar clan in Astarte?s realm). Ki (prince of Mithrana ? middle-east) has a magic item which would enable 7seagulls to summon water and air golems ? he would be able to summon storms but he would need to use the Song of Gaia to use the item. Archduke Rudiger of the Heartland is suggested as an organiser of the school / placement of potential princes and unanimously agreed as an excellent candidate for the job. Aislinn has been researching into Arioch?s past to help uncover more information about Carmen. She has found, from Arioch?s London townhouse:
? Political Diary
? List of Arioch?s payroll (but in code) and account books ? Erica is decoding them ? Globe with weave patterns ? need key to uncover the patterns ? Aztec wraith blade in a warded box
? Painting showing a flight of merlin hawks rising to fight a swarm of golden eagles
? Soul gem containing three souls
? Serpent-headed terracotta statue with inscriptions on the base Serpent men?s ancient capital (Sumer) is in Sophie?s realm
The deciphering of the payroll Kuklos is in the payroll. ? ie. Ku Klux Clan ? Order of the Circle. Arioch is therefore a paymaster of the Ku Klux Clan. Kuklos ? Circle ? links to Order of the Five Rings. (Human baddies!)
Ki said she thinks she knows how Shen Wu?s island works. When the Shang dynasty collapsed in China, Ki sent some agents to find and ?acquire? some artefacts of the dynasty. They found dragon eggs, unlike any other dragons we know of. She thinks they are eggs of the dragon turtle. The legend of the turtle with the world on it?s back come from the dragon turtle (e.g. Shen Wu?s floaty island). The eggs also float. Sophie suggests getting one of the eggs to hatch to try to get the baby turtle to call the mother (carrying the island). That way we could perhaps make Shen Wu?s island come to us at a time and place of our choosing.
George and Don Marco have gone to Spain to try to find out more about Prince de Malfice. They are trying to subvert part of the Rings back to being ?good?. Sophie suggests that if they are successful, we would need to send in a group of people to provide back-up to the ?subverted ones? to enable them to continue with the subversion.
Missions:
? Realm of the goblins, led by Puck and Llamasu to enable release of the 108 heroes from Chinese hell. The likelihood is that Albrech either built or designed the prison where the heroes? souls are held.
? 3-parts: get Gretchen and Michaelis ? research Aztecs talk to Liadan and find out what she knows check out Villois
? What did Craven team find out about Latoure?
? Watch vulnerable realms ? Investigate Carmen ? check Arioch?s house When we go to get into China, there was a gate in Setheroth?s realm ? it only opens from Setheroth?s side. When Beth and Kalmar went to China, they were horrified to find Mirdir there, which is how they know that there was a gate there. Setheroth doesn?t know there?s a gate unless Kalmar told Danté, who would have then told Setheroth about the gate?s existence. (Rob needs to decide if Setheroth knows about the gate or not!)
We looked at the loot from the Aztec mission.
? The serpent eggs (1,000 serpentmen souls) ? Aislinn is going to take them into the red-weave realm and feed them to the dragons. That way, if the souls do get out they will get hunted down by the dragons.
? Armband and Diary Codex of Quertzalcoatl are with George. They still need checking out!
The Baba Yaga issue needs addressing. One theory is that Baba Yaga is mad apart from at the Calends. Or that she disappears at the Calends. Iliana Cozanzeana ? only appears for 3 days in either Romania or Scythia at Calends. Fey hero. Could be either an alternative side of Baba Yaga or another person who can only appear when Baba Yaga isn?t around.
Potential other reincarnates:
Frederic Barbarossa
Marko Kraljevic
Henry the Fowler
King Olaf I
Charlemagne
Vainamoinen
William Tell
Kralj Matjaz
King Arthur
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
Francis Drake
Maximanus
Ogier the Dane
Malchus
King Wenceslas
Martinianus
Dionysis
Sebastian the First
Joannes
Emperor Constantine XI
Serapion
Bran the Blessed
Constantinus
Vlad Tepes Dracul
With reincarnates, when you hit top point, you stop reincarnating and become a sleeper. Some of the dead will be reincarnates. If we get George (and Quertzalcoatl) to the Hall of the Dead, a shaman (e.g. Anya) could see which ghosts are linked to Quertzalcoatl and therefore to the spell.
Vignette 1
8 months ago, the British (Welsh and Sikhs supported by Japanese) went to Tsing Tao in North Eastern China ? it was a German colony. Germans defended it. Battles. Some Welshmen and Japanese are there ? some more Japanese turn up, shoot all the Welsh and the other Japanese and steal a stone disc with writing on it. One of the ?bad? Japanese thieves is a Kitsune. This act meant that the Japanese fey were declaring war on the Chinese fey.
Vignette 2
The League of Enchanters has been wiped out. The 2 survivors are: Master of the Green Weave Lord Callifas, the Prince de Malfice Master of the Red Weave Lord Ballasco
The council Harry goes to speak to Aislinn. He tells Aislinn that there was a meeting under the great tree Yggdrassil. He shows Aislinn his sketches of those present. Aislinn correctly identifies the assembled at that meeting as: Callis (serves Sophie), Alistriona (archmage to Titania), Puck, Tsolt (Aislinn?s pageboy), Tanaida Akash (Ciarfiacc?s general). Harry talked of princes doing the right thing and therefore not having to have oaths broken. There was a degree of deference shown to Aislinn?s pageboy, which Harry seemed to find odd.
Mission 1
The first mission we are going to undertake as PCs is to Albrech?s realm. Albrech?s realm is forbidden territory ? the closest you normally get is when the Great Hunt goes past. Finnvar?s Great Hunt tries to stop the evil dead from making it through to Albrech?s realm. Some of the evil dead are now coming out of Albrech?s realm. The older dead can manifest ? to varying levels. This means that they could for example manifest enough to kill you but not enough that you could see them.
Cast List Puck ? of Finnvar?s realm Anya ? of Finnvar?s realm Lyris ? newly of Finnvar?s realm Llamasu ? Boy ? of Sophie?s realm Impasa ? of Aislinn?s realm 2nd Ltnt. Harry Hawks ? of Sophie?s realm Jésus ? Harry?s Mexican Batman Mysuki (my?zoo?kee) Kitsune (Inari?s messenger) ? affiliated to Sophie?s realm Cap?n Fabian le Beau ? Setheroth?s realm
Day 1 ? a somewhat uncomfortable start. No obvious friendships / hatreds.
Day 2 ? artificial mound with trees. A few ghosts swirling around the mound. Impasa paints a glyph on Harry?s head ? enables him to see the ghosts. He also puts protecti on on all the party members. Lyris goes on ahead and starts to play her pipes ? to distract the spirits in Albrech?s realm. She plays awesomely so has distracted all the garrison spirits. Puck says that the Hall of Bright Shiny Things will have healed from the damage they did to it before. It?s a living machine. The dragon-killing device came out of a hole in the Hall. The menagerie room is downstairs. Albrech created the Llamasu ? Boy is looking for others of his kind. Puck tries to explain how the HoBST works. He asks Fabian to step forward to show that the Hall can react to the people near to it. Fabian suggests Harry as the most likely candidate to foil the machine. Harry steps forward. Liquid pours out of the ceiling and gradually forms into a human shape ? male with bowed head. A sword appears funkily from the ceiling and the figure catches it then its head comes up - it appears to look like Veran (Harry?s love rival). Fabian orders Harry to step back. Harry obeys the superior officer?s command. The Llamasu steps forward and a staircase opens up downstairs. Fabian has a bit of a rant about what he is doing here. We enter the laboratory. There are lots of smaller lab areas off to each side. At the far end, there is a set of crystal ?moulds? ? each for a different animal/monster/creature. The lamia and lamasu came from2 different orders.
Lyris starts to struggle against the malevolent ghosts outside the mound of Alberech?s realm. She has to continue playing.
Underneath laboratory is the disposal chamber, (with a suspected monster to eat the debris). Alberech has a system for storing souls before they are put into the monsters. (Souls are usually malevolent but not all of them!) Souls are attracted into the region and enticed into a device which traps them before Alberech uses them. (The Great Hunt goes through the region to hunt the evil spirits.) Instructions are written/drawn over the walls but in Alberech?s own code.
Return to HoBST, to find a way to get to the soul trap. Puck finds a button which causes all the machines to withdraw and reveals all the doors. Souls stream in through a crystal window. The crystal leads down into the soul chamber. Staircase downwards besides crystal window leads towards the soul chamber. In chamber, there is a chandelier hanging from roof. Each candle of the chandelier is a soul-trap, trapping ghosts into their own dreams. Other ghosts in the chamber drift around but are focussed on a ?perfect, beautiful man?. Man is surrounded by bronze-age king?s equipment. Figure in status and also so powerful that he exists in all realms (mortal as well). Ghosts appear to be worshipping the figure. Harry recognises him from an opera. Impaza?s spirits identify figure as Hagan (from the Ring cycle). He is the original betrayer ? was a Winter Sidhe, betrayed his own kind and then betrayed the ?thugs?. Hagan placed in stasis and the Heartland kept him in that state. Puck legs it when he identifies the figure. With the Heartland wishcursed, the ghosts are able to get more active and he is starting to wake up. Hagan?s symbol is the swastika or Hakenkreuz (Hagen/Haken very similar in sound, could be heard either way). Body actually buried in the mortal realm.
Mysuki is painted by Impasa before she uses her weave skill to retrieve an intact crystal, which is placed in Harry?s rucksack, and then a damaged crystal. When she retrieves the damaged one, all the ghosts in the room focus their attention on the party. Lyris?s ghosts focus their attention on the mound but Lyris continues to play. Mysuki places the damaged crystal on the lift. As the lift rises, the ghosts? attention follows the lift. Everybody leaves the room as quickly as possible. Impasa is the last to leave. As he does so, he fires an arrow at the reflection of Hagan. (Hopes to locate the tomb in the mortal realm). In the HoBST, the ghosts are starting to manifest. Three have formed but another 30 are getting there. The ghosts around Lyris drift into the mound, leaving her alone.
Fabian is in the front, he draws his pistols and aims at the materialised spirits. First shot de-materialise one ghost, 2nd shot is spot on but does no damage. Fabian draws his rapier had deftly dispatches the ghost with great panache.
Anya focuses on the oldest spirits (most dangerous). One on the ceiling waiting to ambush, and garrotte one of the party. Anya uses her quarterstaff as a spear and kills it.
Impasa enchants an arrow and aims at an unmanifested tag-team ? 2 spirits: one as a person and one as a weapon.
Mysuki attacks two foes. The first she hits with her katana and she takes his arm off and breaks several ribs. He beats a hasty retreat. She then goes for a manifesting one with her wakasashi and splats it. Harry considers what action to take whilst assessing the situation with his considerable military skills. He shouts: ?Charge!?
Fabian pulls his second pistol and throws it to Harry. Fabian goes into ?dashing cavalier? mode. He dispatches 3 with great style and va-va-voom, ending with a big, poseury (yet still stylish!) salute. (One ghost ran the wrong way and Fabian and another ghost managed to kill it between them, for a good comedy moment.)
Lyris hears the sounds of battle and runs into the mound and down the steps.
Anya goes for the other aged spirit who is eyeing up Fabian. She throws her quarterstaff at him and skewers him, then runs forward and finishes him off.
Impasa shoots again at the tag-team person ghost. He sends an arrow imbued with one of his ancestors thudding into the chest of the ghost and his ancestor spirit rends the ghost asunder. Impasa then casually picks up the sword-ghost.
Mysuki runs up the wall and lands behind her targets. She neatly dispatches three ghosts in a flurry of blades and damages a fourth.
Harry catches the thrown pistol from Fabian. He sees that one of the ghosts has found a form of crossbow and is pointing it at Harry. Harry shoots him and smites him mightily.
Fabian and another ghost salute each other. Then Fabian gets mean and dirty and kicks him in the groin. The ghost staggers back and then Fabian smashes him in the face with his maingauche. Splat.
Lyris surveys the scene.
Anya spots that not all the ghosts are human. One of the ghosts is a warg ghost. It?s heading right for Lyris. Anya yells: ?duck!? and Lyris disappears! Anya hurls her quarterstaff at the warg. She doesn?t manage to damage it but pulls it away from where Lyris was (we think). The ward is not a happy bunny and heads toward Anya, hoping to have her for lunch.
Impasa now has the ghostly sword. He sees the warg coming. He assesses the situation and frenzies into a pair of pre-manifested ghosts. He dispatches both ghosts and then smacks the warg with the ghostly sword.
Harry contemptuously parries an attack from a ghost as he plans the next phase of the group?s attack. He shouts out instructions to Fabian and Mysuki to head for particular places in the room. Masterful tactician moment!
Mysuki leaps to the place Harry asked her to head for. One ghost tries to stab her but she parries. She then frenziedly attacks. One ghost starts to smile broadly at Mysuki ? she is now faced with a Jesuit sword-wielding priest ghost who knows her style of attack.
Fabian manoeuvres into place.
Lyris throws Anya?s stick back to her. The quarterstaff sails through the air.
Anya leaps up and catches her staff. She rams the staff into the warg?s spine, shattering it, then lands neatly.
Impasa dispatches one of the two ghosts between him and Lyris, the other completes manifesting. It is a big Dacian warrior who has sacrificed one of the heads it is carrying to enable it to complete manifesting.
Mysuki gets the priest as she flicks the cross round its neck across the HoBST. It doesn?t seem to do any damage but the ghost de-manifests. The second ghost on Mysuki attacks her and she succeeds in breaking his spear.
Harry hears Puck in the distance shouting: ?press the button!? so he does. The HoBST starts to reset.
Fabian defends his place but one of the ghosts manages to dislodge his powder pouch from his belt. He yells to Harry to shoot it.
Puck arrives and is delighted to find the party still alive. He finds Lyris and sends her on up the staircase. Anya runs for the stairs, as does Fabian. Mysuki flicks one of her crazy-length sleeves after the priest ghost?s cross and pulls it across the floor, grabbing it as she runs out of the HoBST. Impasa and the Dacian attack each other. There is a flurry of blades but Impasa is saved by his spirit shield and makes it past the Dacian to safety while the Dacian?s head is plucked off by the HoBST. Harry swears he hears the Dacian squeal like a little girl squid. Harry shoots the powder pouch with great precision, and it explodes gloriously with magic gunpowder. Any ghosts not already hacked by the Hall are blown up by the explosion. The party retreat hastily up the staircase, followed by big flames.
Impasa puts a ward up to stop the spirits following us.