Session 37: Animaesus and Tarrasques: High on Centaur Legs; Mealladh Apethanta, The Binder Lord of the 12th Word
General Summary
The group elects to stay one more day, seeing that Stryke's Children need certain items to ensure their survival in the wilds: gear, weapons, armor. They are coming of age, and the road has already proven dangerous. They then come back to the mansion, and smoke to their heart's content, only being distracted hours later by some noise outside.
They see the Cynas guards have engaged in an argument about the dragon and the other odd events about the city of late. The centaur come out of concern, but they have always been a forceful race, so they almost push the Cynas into an encounter over their protection and hospitality towards the group, those who persuaded Baarong to travel farther out east, and even those who command the power of the artifact, K'ash.
Thus, Eros and Stryke, with Birdman and Nuvell following, quite intoxicated from the smoking session, arrive to understand the commotion. They find these centaur amiable enough, but the centaur do not seem pleased with the description of Baarong and what has happened to the plight of the people east of here, where the dragon flies. Additionally, they are not keen on the infamy of K'ash staying so close to their lands.
They leave, sending a group to the east to track the dragon, and the rest head back north to their forests.
Solas spends the day catching smoke in bottles, having never seen so much of its maleable form in one place before, so readily created and available; air is a strange thing.
The Story shifts to be back with the City characters, Garuvld, Ferrum, Thelas, Mel, Ssech, and Alucard.
Thelas has invited the elf Alucard to a dinner at the 11th House, Orcafor's domain. He agrees, and on his way there, he does not know he is also being tracked by Mel. With the assistance of divine magic from her otherworldly and undead connections, she is able to divine and locate Alucard's location before he arrives behind the magic gates of the 11th House. She knows from her research that the soul cage is a tenuous object, one she cannot manipulate freely with out more powerful magic herself; and, also at the risk of releasing the 12th Word of Power; and thus causing a catastrophy by awakening the beast. After tackling Alucard as he arrives at the gates and incuring the wrath of the 11th House door guard, Bora a lynxin mage, and that of Garvuld and Ferrum who fly down to intercept, Mel elects and realizes using other magic might be of better use of her time than this direct approach. Furthermore, the 11th house saw the pounce occur though the magical vision walls of their house, which allow Orcafor, the Binder Lord and ancient gnomish wizard, to view all that happen around his mighty tower.
But, Mel escapes this wrath, and the other mages, Garvuld, Ferrum and Thelas, take Alucard and his soul cage of the Matron Mother of the 12th House, and so far the Binder Lord of the 12th word of power; this is one of the keys of the 13 Divine Harpoons holding the tarrasque to the earth, allowing for a deep and divine slumber to take hold with tinctures and alchemics alike. She uses her divine connections to speak with the soul of the Matron Mother, and she learns that she can indeed use the ritual in agreement with the matron mother; the drow lady can willingly give the word but at the sacrifice of Mel's lifeforce.
With this knowledge, Mel travels quickly now to the 12th Bind, and on her arrival, avoiding the patroling and cajoling Godbutchers, she kneels above the magic circle, and she cuts her hand. Yet, she is a practiced Blood Hunter, and she can manipulate her own lifeforce too unlike divine and primordial abilites, so she directs her life force, the least possible needed, to be intertwined with the Bind's Circle, the chains, and the harpoon that bleeds the great beast.
As the primordial magics acknowledge the new claim, they seek for the word, the answer, and so she sends a magic message again to the soul of the Matron Mother still caged by Alucard of the 8th House, seemingly eating a simple dinner with Orcafor and his cronies, the young elf Thelas, the Warforged Ferrum, and the stout dwarf, Garvuld.
They know little of Mel's movements, and only the powerful Orcafor, at least initially, can sense any movements at all, but not enough to latch onto the magical and clandestine maneuvers this vampire lord has nearly completed.
With the the message sent, and the great drow mother responds: Say these words: Glory, Finality, Marisol, Peace, Martyr, Home, Apropos, Talon, Desolation, Thrice, King's Guard, Emba, Incarnadine. The bind takes hold, Mel knows somehow: he divine latch on her soul; and the other Binder Lords feel it too, but they only know a shift, like the one on the night before this all happened, when Alucard transferred the soul to the cage, and the tail of the beast thwacked down with an earthshake; that's all they know.
The new Binder Lord retreats to her lair, outside the city. Mel becomes the Binder Lord, and Thelas and Ferrum and Garvuld sense Orcafor's distance at dinner, and they intuit they must scry and research: what has the drow lady done?
They see the Cynas guards have engaged in an argument about the dragon and the other odd events about the city of late. The centaur come out of concern, but they have always been a forceful race, so they almost push the Cynas into an encounter over their protection and hospitality towards the group, those who persuaded Baarong to travel farther out east, and even those who command the power of the artifact, K'ash.
Thus, Eros and Stryke, with Birdman and Nuvell following, quite intoxicated from the smoking session, arrive to understand the commotion. They find these centaur amiable enough, but the centaur do not seem pleased with the description of Baarong and what has happened to the plight of the people east of here, where the dragon flies. Additionally, they are not keen on the infamy of K'ash staying so close to their lands.
They leave, sending a group to the east to track the dragon, and the rest head back north to their forests.
Solas spends the day catching smoke in bottles, having never seen so much of its maleable form in one place before, so readily created and available; air is a strange thing.
The Story shifts to be back with the City characters, Garuvld, Ferrum, Thelas, Mel, Ssech, and Alucard.
Thelas has invited the elf Alucard to a dinner at the 11th House, Orcafor's domain. He agrees, and on his way there, he does not know he is also being tracked by Mel. With the assistance of divine magic from her otherworldly and undead connections, she is able to divine and locate Alucard's location before he arrives behind the magic gates of the 11th House. She knows from her research that the soul cage is a tenuous object, one she cannot manipulate freely with out more powerful magic herself; and, also at the risk of releasing the 12th Word of Power; and thus causing a catastrophy by awakening the beast. After tackling Alucard as he arrives at the gates and incuring the wrath of the 11th House door guard, Bora a lynxin mage, and that of Garvuld and Ferrum who fly down to intercept, Mel elects and realizes using other magic might be of better use of her time than this direct approach. Furthermore, the 11th house saw the pounce occur though the magical vision walls of their house, which allow Orcafor, the Binder Lord and ancient gnomish wizard, to view all that happen around his mighty tower.
But, Mel escapes this wrath, and the other mages, Garvuld, Ferrum and Thelas, take Alucard and his soul cage of the Matron Mother of the 12th House, and so far the Binder Lord of the 12th word of power; this is one of the keys of the 13 Divine Harpoons holding the tarrasque to the earth, allowing for a deep and divine slumber to take hold with tinctures and alchemics alike. She uses her divine connections to speak with the soul of the Matron Mother, and she learns that she can indeed use the ritual in agreement with the matron mother; the drow lady can willingly give the word but at the sacrifice of Mel's lifeforce.
With this knowledge, Mel travels quickly now to the 12th Bind, and on her arrival, avoiding the patroling and cajoling Godbutchers, she kneels above the magic circle, and she cuts her hand. Yet, she is a practiced Blood Hunter, and she can manipulate her own lifeforce too unlike divine and primordial abilites, so she directs her life force, the least possible needed, to be intertwined with the Bind's Circle, the chains, and the harpoon that bleeds the great beast.
As the primordial magics acknowledge the new claim, they seek for the word, the answer, and so she sends a magic message again to the soul of the Matron Mother still caged by Alucard of the 8th House, seemingly eating a simple dinner with Orcafor and his cronies, the young elf Thelas, the Warforged Ferrum, and the stout dwarf, Garvuld.
They know little of Mel's movements, and only the powerful Orcafor, at least initially, can sense any movements at all, but not enough to latch onto the magical and clandestine maneuvers this vampire lord has nearly completed.
With the the message sent, and the great drow mother responds: Say these words: Glory, Finality, Marisol, Peace, Martyr, Home, Apropos, Talon, Desolation, Thrice, King's Guard, Emba, Incarnadine. The bind takes hold, Mel knows somehow: he divine latch on her soul; and the other Binder Lords feel it too, but they only know a shift, like the one on the night before this all happened, when Alucard transferred the soul to the cage, and the tail of the beast thwacked down with an earthshake; that's all they know.
The new Binder Lord retreats to her lair, outside the city. Mel becomes the Binder Lord, and Thelas and Ferrum and Garvuld sense Orcafor's distance at dinner, and they intuit they must scry and research: what has the drow lady done?
Rewards Granted
Mel is a Binder Lord.
Report Date
26 Aug 2023
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Secondary Location
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