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Session 75: Animaesus and Tarrasques: Killing Dwarves Near, Far, Wherever They Are

General Summary

The next morning, and the The Mores of Forest Salt have gathered with friends, family, and lapids who they saved. They have Kelrir the Great Ape, and K'ash the First, the Shield of the Lands, and they stand proudly behind the congregation. Kaitba the Hawk, the shadow in the sky, and Ki'i, The Snake and Fire Viper of the South, they have been drug to lay before this congregation. Then, Queen Thistle walks forward, her people ready to hear her; she asks for who will lay claim, and Stryke stands first, asking for a chance with the Hawk, to soar through the skies as if they were his own. He is accepted by the congregation, but he must first watch the dance and ritual from his friend Eros, and then he must find his own inner grace. But how can he speak to the soul and mind of the great hawk, Kaitba? Eros again helps him, and she inspires him too, but also with the kind words of Sayrulion, the melin barbarian, the vestige and roar of the great caves and rivers of the Animaesus, the Wrath of Kyten--Stryke finds the grace within, and he is able to bond to the hawk, Kaitba.
Next comes Ki'i, the snake, and with this, Queen Thistle is able to call upon her own magic and grace, her instinct and will as a leader, and with this the powerful snake bonds to her will, and a new protectorate is born for the people of the rabbit, and the Lapid Runs will be blessed it seems. When the bond is complete, Stryke and the Queen, and therefore the others who have a telepathic connection, soon see the flashes of darkness, of a panther begging for aid as it falls into endless darkness, of a will and want of Kelrir and Kaitba to assist, and of their pilots, Stryke and S'arrek, specifically, seeing the images, and knowing as well that the other three primordials, the other three children of the ancients of Barur, they too know this, and thus, their pilots do, too. With this a few key conversations happen, though; the first is with S'arrek about the honor and justified moves behind creating a biological weapon to stand against the dwarves. He suggests to perhaps go for the heads of the Jourvian Army, the three primodials left. He thinks his abilites are key to the fight, and the others in the group, yes, their powers as well, however, Eros is not so sure: There are 2000+ dwarves, plus these three powerful jourvians. Here, Stryke, through Kaitba, is able to confirm the power of this great primordials. The second is a conversation with the Queen about the plunder of the fight, and group divvies up what is left, with most going to Kelrir and K'ash so that they may upgrade and be ready for what comes next. Third, Liam discusses a speed contest with Fraction at gathering more herbs for potions and the like.
There is then a discussion of where the kids will go, and Donovan is the first to concede, but Rhogarr, and especially Althea want to continue along.
Liam spends the better part of a day looking for all sorts of herbs, well finding, as he wants healing potion herbs, but he is unable to locate some until he travels further north to the rivers of the lands, and he needs to go to all sorts of environments in order to gather stuff for a full resistance potion.

Then there is some passive aggressive discussion with Trillo about his insistence on traveling further south, to see the Trail of Mists the lapids have discussed, and maybe see the Testudine lands, a maybe even remember them this time. Eros is worried about finding the old tortoise folk again, but Trillo tries to assure her that her magic will be enough, and that that should be the least of her worries. Her thoughts are inconsequential compared to what needs to happen next. Liam is also involved, but his ambivalence eventually makes Trillo claim death to him will come. And in the middle of this conversation, Liam finishes the teleportation circle to the Dragon Lands, forcing the group to wrap up their ideas and move on to the next steps.


They are soon greeted by Allic Tith, and they have introductions of all kinds--the children, the primordials, the drow. The who and why are then revealed, as Eros wishes to know more about the dragon rider lands, and how to thwart the dwarves with the use of this bloodline manipulation, through the catalyst's science. Thus, the Fire Breath and Dragonlord, the Dragon Rider Grand Master and Transmuter, Allic Tith leads the group through the many layered, roomed, and oddly staired castle of the Dragon Rider Academy, so they may come to his grand library near the outer gates. On the way, the Transmuter checks in with his white dragon, Wilderbrand, he digs holes beneath the city to aid the Grand Master Nester, and his silver dragon Taika, with the even grander designs: the Castle and City of the Dragon Rider Academy will soon float above the lands, and it will join the skies like the clouds and the dragons who find this rookery home--will more dragons also return?
Once in the library, though, Lord Tith explains to Eros, Stryke, Liam with Fraction, the children--Donovan, Althea, and Rhogarr--and even Nuvell, Fedre, and Roxana who is followed by Sayrulion with S'arrek, too--the wizard explains to them about the Dragon Lords, how there are only two remaining here on Barur and to interrupt George now to come make such a poison for the dwarves Eros now tries to stop, well the Stone of Barur, the odd little one, George would probably not agree, and to interrupt him would probably incite some other being to act against Eros, too. Thus, he offers aid, but he too would not want to upset the dwarven balance he has here. Eros, however, warns that she is not here to destroy all dwarves, but to stop the dwarves who have come to destroy the lands she has come to know as her home. The Lands of the Animaesus. These odd creatures have a balance to earn, and one they deserve. Tith knows of the Ancient Wall, the Faces of the King, and he knows of the plays the dragonlords took so many years ago to save Barur, to close the fissure and rift from the darker planes and beings. These plays must be stopped, but he knows he can offer aid in another way: he can keep the younger ones safe, and then they can continue and reinforce the Dragon Rider academy as we come into this new age.
They then talk of the tarrasque, how possibly there could be more, for the initial information they have about the primoridials, those like K'ash, Kelrir, and now Kaitba, that there are seveon on each continent, and thus there must be almost 30 if not more to exist, and with that, what other pressures will rise from others that have been found, will be found, could be? Can Allic Tith really have everything in place to stop this?
Allic then offers on odd magical dye, a tint that Eros can add to her eye, and with it, she could go to K'ash, and maybe even the others, and see their legends, see their past, understand who really created them and why. She agrees, and when the magic takes hold, she sees odd things of old: Three deities coming together, before the earth was truly wrought, still a wrath and a fire, and Barur shapes with their union, for they summon the first of these jourvian primordials, Valin, Jacq, and Kittiq/Kyten--they crafted the first jourvians, and they sent them to protect and see the world with new beings, with new wars, with new ages and chores. Yes, they were they to stop the tarrasques, to put the first aberrations to the darkness, and then the first fiends and celestials. When the rift was open, and the siege on Barur came from all sides, all access points.
There is so much beyond their reach.
Stryke wishes then to ask for another perspective, to this Kyten who is mentioned, who chose him, that perhaps there is a cleric or another who can aid in a communion with the ancient deity. They leave S'arrek in the library with Rhogarr, Althea, and Donovan, and Roxana, Fedre, and Nuvell stay too. Eros joins Stryke, but Liam stays behind. Thus, Stryke, Eros and Allic are to meet the priestess of The Raven. A deity of protection and darkness, of death and of life, of motherhood and the end. They come down into catacombs, and they find a larger temple full of quite prayers and murmurs, and fifty or so devouts in prayer about. The head priestess, garbed in black robes like the rest of the followers, but her head is exposed, and a long braid drapes behind her, something that easily is over twelve feet if it was not hooked up behind her. She prays before a large statue, a woman rising from robes wreathed around her, her breasts bare and her arms holding behind. Feathers drape around her shoulders and fall around her feet. Seeing Allic come in with strangers, the priestess is warned by her son, presumably, and she motions for Allic to lead the strangers into side room away from the swath of devouts and pilgrims from many lands and races. Once alone, she fully looks on these strangers, and not surprised by Eros, her gaze continues to lock on to Stryke, having never seen a melin nor an Animaesus before. She is intimidated to be sure, and it soon becomes apparent even more so, that their strange story--deities inside the beast, the melin; singing and speaking to gods, but still wanting to know how prayer works, how talking to a god works. And, still, some other worship of a strange beast and its butthole. Brunehilda, the cleric of the Raven Mother, is confused. Yet, she does eventually agree to aid, but she needs a day to prepare her ritual, so she might commune with this strange primordial deity, Kyten, they say. Allic apparently has already left in this confusion, and he has left Brunehilda to this new chaos.
They agree to return the next day, to learn of a connection, a means to know of deific goals, and maybe a means to stop the dwarves and save their home from powers beyond their control in the process.

Cover image: by Seth Love

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