Invasion from within: Beziar

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



* Dal couldn't help but chuckle slightly as the mood shifted so abruptly, and his accent was the first thing observed by these 'under folk' and Quie-Ra being ironically pragmatic.

He dropped his sword arm and heaved a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to have to jump right back into another fight.*

"I come from the west."
*He commented, providing reason for his own accent which still held tones of Seatongue despite Dals eloquence in riverspeak, not accounting for the possibility that any accent might be strange to them.*

"I regret to say we too are plagued by the dark brood tide, of which we have only just stemmed. I would come to your aid if you have need of more warriors... I fear the most pressing matter is to seal whatever abyss the creatures are springing from before we are overwhelmed!"


*Dal looked around at the fallen people he had sent to their own death, the weight of this action fell upon him all at once... He looked back up at the mountain folk with woe in his eyes.*

"what of the spotted folk... the dark brood fighting against the rest, do any yet survive that you saw?"

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

* The leader mountain folk turned to look at the hole behind him, then back to Dal, hie expression that of regal detachedness that seems fitting for a god or ancient exalt*

" The pox-kin? all dead I am afraid. They gave us the detraction we needed to plant a successful sneak attack. I am Malachite and for now, I represent The Populat of Resck. There are attacks coming from all directions, but they are centered on your four second tier manses. I do not know why they are hellbent on breeching the surface, but that is why I volunteered for this recon mission, but we will need each other's help. Our record keepers tell us that your surface empire and ours once lived in harmony. perhaps this could happen again."

* Malachite did not seem to mind the death that was all around them or the dire situation they were in, keeping a completely cool head and showing an almost bored and aloof attitude*

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1




"Yes... I see. Then I must take this moment in silence, and pray. The forbidden god Baelstrom falls to servitude protecting what he would have destroyed. May the underfolk be redeemed and given rebirth for fighting bravely against their oppressors, and lead us in the trials still ahead. "

*Dal Closed his eyes and spoke softly. compartmentalized the fate of the under folk for now, he grit his teeth and steadied himself.*

" The ones we fought here were on some sort of revenge mission, to destroy the ones that condemned them to exile."

*Dal walked closer to the mountain folk bearing no aggression, and extended his hand to be shaken.*

"I am called Admiral Dal'Lumen, I am the leader of the city above known as Beziar - Your assistance is welcome, let us meet hands as a symbol of a more lasting bond, one that unites us against our common enemy."

(7 sxs vrs 6Dif = 2sxs prayer for the fallen, protection and guidance)

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

* Malachite took Dal's hand, looking puzzled still, but indulged in this ritual of shaking hands all the same*

" Hello Dal'Lumen. So you are the new Admiral Chaplin? How interesting."

* He motioned to the stocky, blue skinned people and the dwarf like mountain folk that surrounded him, still looking regally detached and perhaps a bit bored*

" These are the only underlings brave enough to follow me up here... I don't know their names... I see that you have a hand full of loyal subjects yourself... They seem very able. Now then, the underfolk and the darkbrood have emerged to the surface for the first time in over ten thousand years. I can think of no reason why these creature would ever decide to risk the sun's wrath. Have there been strange occurrences in your empire?"

* Quie stood slack jawed as he listened to Malachite call him a 'subject' and pondered what sort of thing he could make out of dead mountain folk *

* Silently One Road seethed as he nibbled on the wrap that covered his face out of irritation. He had only read about Mountain folk from Yu Shan's libraries of the gracious subterranean helpers who aided the Exalted host... he could barely believe that this is what they became*

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1




"Ah these are my friends, my comrades, and they have all made their own choices to fight by my side... Though I suppose Scales might be the exception.

Strange occurrences are so common in this Empire, they are hardly to be called strange at all, you must be more specific if you recognize some sort of pattern to this. We had an incident with some Sidereal Exalts and an attempted usurpation... I suppose they could have something to do with this... This was months ago however."

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

* Malachite raised an eyebrow at this theory. He let go of Dal's hand and rested the handle of his hammer on the ground as he held it right under the head, now leaning on it like a walking staff*

" Sidereal Exalted? Those things of legend? I doubt a fate writing creature even exists and if it did, they would not be able to convince almost an entire directions worth of forbidden gods and dark-brood to set aside their differences and attempt to kill us all.. No, I am asking if anything has happened on the surface involving 'things unclean'.
A surge in infernal cults? Yozi worship? a sizable number of demons escaping? Maybe even seeking out followers? If not, then maybe we should turn out attentions to farther below where they are coming from or the surface, where they have gone. The ball is in your court, Prince of Earth"

* The small dwarf like figures stood in silence, looking back at the crew before them just incase they were to attack, but the squat blue figures looked between each other in confusion, then back to Dal and his friends*


" I have the ability to not only think and reason for myself, but weigh out scenarios in which I may or may not survive an encounter and make my decisions accordingly... My original intent was as a middle administrator and as such I was given more autonomy than the average Automata"

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



*Dal pinched his chin and paced.*

"Well, there was a hoard of blood apes some months ago, and last month the Demon Octavian attacked... It is hard for me to say, I have very little knowledge of the occult, or what might have caused this.

Damn! I just don't... Wait; Quie-Ra, what did the boy Asra call those demons that have infested our waters? Slinkers, slimers... Slithers!"

*He stopped his pacing and drew on his most decisive nature, allowing the Admiral to present himself.*

"We cannot leave the city unprotected, but we must investigate this, we need to meet up with the Dragon blooded outside and assign two teams, One charged with the Defense of the city and standby for an investigation team to get to the heart of this matter!

"Quie-Ra, One Road and Scales, your wisdom and insight matters Should we summon the demon and find out if he is behind this, or do you have some other idea?

Quickly! Speak as we move, Let's get outside and hope the others came to my call!"

*Dal waved everyone to move out, and Ran up the stairs of the manse on his way out.*

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

" Blood Apes?... Erymanthoi? So there is a lot of murder up there? And The Living Tower?!? Is someone up there crazed enough to challenge The Quarter Prince personally?

* Malachite's bored demeanor was soon replaced by shock and surprise at the notion of somebody willingly summoning Octavian for a fight*


* Quie-Ra chimed in at Dal's question*

" Slithers are what he and... Torrent's daughter... call them. Asra's mother, Calm Foam, called them 'Demjen'"

"Demjen!?! It is imposable that someone could be excavating so many clockwork wonders. There are summoners up there and I can bet they had a hand in this! You are right, so long as you will it, we can go above ground!"

*Malachite motioned for his underlings to follow him as he ran after Dal*

"Which demon are you referring to, Admiral?"

* Scales slithered to the side of Dal, keeping low incase he felt like stepping up onto her back*

" Gumela? Is that Gumela you are talking about? I can get you knotted yarn if you like"

* Quie-Ra swing his arms as he ran, careful not to hit anyone with his newly aquired spear*

" I can have one of my underlings donate a few drops of blood"

* When they arrived back inside the manse, the sight they came to was a bizarre one. The manse seemed to be partially working now, with Ankbut running around repairing the geomancy. The strange part was the dozens and dozens of dark brood running into the manse and shattering jars filled with spiders and white smoke, before the manses magics burns the darkbrood down to nothing.

The spiders from the jars ran all about the manse wildly, but seemed harmless enough.. mostly an annoyance. The smell of the white smoke was soon apparent as the smell of peyote.*

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



"Yes those are the ones I was speaking of! But we have enough trouble as it is, should we really summon a demon on top of all this? Wha....?"

*Dal slowed and looked confused at the jars, and their unusual contents.*

"What in the wyld is all of this? What are they doing that for, trying to get us too high to fight back? I don't trust this, they are up to something... Could they be performing some strange ritual to summon another demon?"

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

* Malachite looks over the scene, taking a moment to snicker as some of the lesser darkbrood fizzle and die under the awesome mystical might of Dal's temple manse.*

" Whatever it is, I wish they would do it more... the only good darkbrood is a dead one, if you ask me. I say this is an open and shut case. The only darkbrood we should be worrying about are those who are not burning to nothingness... as for the spiders and smoke, who knows why those loathsome creatures do anything?... I rather like the smell too... its like a hallucinogenic mushroom I enjoy smoking when I am on free time."

* Quie-Ra found no amusement in this, but was rather worried about this puzzling behavior that he was witnessing*

" I don't know.. I have never heard of this before. Maybe if we did summon that demon, it could give us some direction as to what is going on. I can't help but feel that this is just a small part of a greater looming darkness"

* One Road seemed uninterested in the darkbrood and the spiders and was more focused on the infernal implications of this invasion*

" Who do you propose that we should summon, Dal? I am afraid I am not much of a sorcerer, but I do know of a few methods of summoning."

*One of the blue skinned folk pointed at a mass of webbing*

" look... its making something!"

* the webs seemed to form into some kind of mandala*

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



" There are mundane acts, and then there are those which are deceptively so. They are up to something, and that..." *He pointed at the mandala*

"That is evidence of something greater at play, I do not trust this... If we destroy it, and kill all the spiders it will only begin again somewhere else when we are somewhere else... Does anyone recognize the mandala?"


*He walked over to the spider web, barely contained menace on his face, and he looked around the room. If power was returning to the manse, perhaps...*

"Sentinel? If you can establish a connection I need to know what the situation is like in the rest of the empire, are there more of these mandalas cropping up?"

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



" There are mundane acts, and then there are those which are deceptively so. They are up to something, and that..." *He pointed at the mandala*

"That is evidence of something greater at play, I do not trust this... If we destroy it, and kill all the spiders it will only begin again somewhere else when we are somewhere else... Does anyone recognize the mandala?"


*He walked over to the spider web, barely contained menace on his face, and he looked around the room. If power was returning to the manse, perhaps...*

"Sentinel? If you can establish a connection I need to know what the situation is like in the rest of the empire... If you can hear me but can't connect give me a sign

are The other cities under attack? Is everyone else all right? Are there more of these mandalas cropping up?"

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

" What is a Sentinel?... are you talking to yourself, Solar?"

* Malachite smirked as he watched Dal look closely at the mandala that the spiders were forming on the wall, but his expression changed as golden sparks started streaking through the air*

* The sparks left a fine yellow glow on the ground. As if a single invisible finger were writing a message in dust, words began forming in the the light on the ground.

' Invasion in all cities.
Not attacking. Oddities.
No mandalas
Danger!
Bringing mirrors to river!!'

*Quie-Ra taps his starmetal staff against the ground as he read the note*

" Do you think that is Sentinel? They must have done a number to the empire's geometry. Danger? I have never heard of mirrors being dangerous. Do you know what that means, Dal?"



" Mirror?... I can't help feeling like this is something I know, but my specialty lies in travel. I am sorry I am not more help."

* One Road shakes his head in shame, wishing he were not so young and inexperienced*

* A shriek could be heard behind the inquisitive group as an Anhule leapt out of one of the spiderweb mandalas and was immediately burnt from the holy aura from the manse. The noisy demon spider made a break for the door, seeking to escape from the touch of The Unconquered Sun before it could be burnt to death*

( roll Intelligence + Occult diff: 1 )

[Dal'Lumen]

Calibration 1



"DAMN!"

*Dal spun around to see one of the spider demons he had encountered a few months prior, and without hesitation he lunged toward it and brought his borrowed sword to bare on the creatures already burning flesh, slashing at it's frail legs as he ran in front of it blocking it's escape.*

"Destroy the mandalas and their creators, Seal all the doors, these Anhules may try to capture people and bring them for sacrifice!"

*Dal stared the spider demon down as he spoke of what he knew about mirrors and water.*

"Every child in the west knows of the mirrors, to outsiders it just seems a bizarre superstition, but when you live near water you must turn all mirrors in your home away from the nearest water when the months renew in calibration. I was young when I was taken from my home but I know that something terrible lurks in the reflection of the water... When we have cleaned up here we need to fan out in the city and kill all dark brood, priority on any carrying mirrors to the river!

I don't know how to stop all of this, but damn if I don't know how to fight! And fight is what I intend to do until every last broodling is dead! Should every demon in Malfeas come crawling out of their festering prison to destroy us I will be there to face them!"

(sxs 2 Int+Lore 3 join combat)

[Ress]

Calibration 1,

* From outside the Manse, many tiny wood elementals rush to the doors and windows, attempting to bar the Anhules exit from the manse.*

" I sent my elementals to keep them from leaving... but there is no telling how many mandalas and demons there are!"

"That is not good enough! All of you, go check every exit and patrol them, I don't want a single spider leaving the premisses!"

* The smaller mountain folk and the people of the earth ran the perimeter without question, their repeating crossbows at the ready.*

* More and more demons began popping into the manse at ten second intervals, phasing through the mandalas that draped from the corners of the manse. Soon as they leapt from the unholy structures, they began burning in a glorious golden flame. The small mountain folk began firing at them, taking them down very quickly.*

* Scales ran her body through low laying mandalas, ruining the portals they created, as well as squishing injured demons*

" I can not help but feel this is futile... they had to have known that this was holy ground... what is their game"?

* The Anhules scurry to the windows and doors, the light of the manse's holy aura burning them as they rammed against the barred exist. A nearby anhule screams out as he tries to escape*

" Let us out!! The Sidereal lies to you! Your sister is hidden in the Empire!!! They Lie, They Lie!!!"

( Quie-0
Anhule:2
Anhule:2
Anhule:2
Malachite-3
Anhule:3
Anhule:3
Anhule:4
Anhule:4
Dal:4 )