Witnessing the Palanquin Convocation 1476.02 to 1476.04

The orb force explodes in all directions. Different colours swirling around us everywhere. Time, space, laws of physics no longer apply. Hurtling towards what looks like a giant eye. Air is slow, heavy. We can hear the swell of the oceans between worlds. Circular room, all aventurine stone, columns all around. Centre is sunken, shaped like a treasure flower. We're all lying each on one of the many petals, their ends like spear points (except for Tranq, who is still away chasing up some information of his own). There is water in the centre, scented, warm. The ceiling looks like green emerald. Symbol of the Cherished of the Emeralds Blaze. We can hear running water. Matron Afra and Lord Zyrell are there, thanking us effusively. They tell us we will be witnesses to something called they're calling the Convocation. They tell us there will be other observers, and 13 other witnesses, and none of them will be able to initiate interaction with us, but we can choose to interact with them if we wish. Until we do, we will appear only as shadows. Someone is assigned to us, an observer, who we can interact with. He will answer our questions while we attend the Convocation. His name is Jyrese. We recognise the mask he is wearing as the same as the one the innkeeper wore to see the truth (August 18) about the spilled ink and the dead men we learned were sea spawn. The Princess, Matron Afra, Lord Zyrell and Jyrese all lie down on their own petals in between us. Afra says some words, and we blank out again. We awake in an amphitheatre. There are white marble seats, the walls and decorations all in deep green, a domed ceiling, looking up we see what looks like a solar system. We look at each other, and realise we look like green holograms of ourselves. But also slightly different to usual. Atala is silver instead of green. Ruben has a symbol tumbling all around him and through him. Mayb recognises the symbol as the sacred arcane symbol for knowledge in Samadan language. Maybellina has butterfly like wings flaring out from behind her every now and then. Kunoh alternates between looking like an older meaner version of himself and then a younger version of himself. Every now and then, Ophion's horns disappear, and he looks more human, like a classy charming gentleman, and then he changes and a huge giant blue horned person bursts out. We see Heian as an Eldar, with a platinum crown, spikes, ethereal, fancy, elegant and beautiful. Mayb recognises he is Eldar, although the rest of us don't understand what we are seeing at the time. Onai has a constellation drawn over him. Nick Furry briefly looks like an imp. Then when Ophion's horns reappear, he seems to rub up against them. Mayb realises these are our Universal Exemplars, but we do not get a chance to discuss this strangeness further before we make out 50 or so shadowy shapes slowly coming into view around us. We can hear snippets of conversation. We are roughly halfway up the edge of the amphitheatre, on the stairs, with a clear view of the stage. We see 13 people lining the front row, all talking to each other. They are clearer than the rest. 1 - shadowy, leaves shadowy trails. Order of the Hidden. 2 - a knight in amber and blue. Kunoh recognises him as Helegu Blue Host (The Helegu Khanate). 3 - dark, all dressed in black, with brilliant starlight highlights. Starless Communion (Mama Tet). 4 - all in greys, with lightning coming out of their hands. Warlocks of the Faceless Master. 5 - big warrior with a massive sword, all in steel grey tones. Drana's Hammer. 6 - dressed all in purples and oranges and has the same symbol as the Professor has floating all around them. Hidden Universities. 7 - clearly a magus, dressed in pale blues with a large magic staff. The Nebulous Prestige. 8 - painted white, with blood red accents, with daggers. Faithful of the Fallen Sosso. 9 - dressed in jungle greens, stealthy, assassins. Ol Alem. 10 - dressed and painted in gold, with a gold staff, beautiful and elegant. The Professor recognises them as Golden Brazier. 11 - Janto woman, dressed in pure white. Reminds Ophion of his betrothed. 12 - covered in dark imagery, skulls, lots of black, reminiscent of witches, warlocks. The Diabolists. 13 - Taerun person, covered in blue tattoos. The constellation changes, is moving, and Ruben realises what we've seeing is changes over time. Atala listens in on the Golden Brazier witness chatting to a companion. She hears warnings of timeless dragon god kings, Zarathustra and Zoroaster. Mayb talks to the Warlock, asks what their interest is here. He tells her their interest is in bringing chaos, and that he has been sent to witness on behalf of his faceless master. Lightning moves across his skin, and there is also something moving underneath his skin. Kunoh can hear whispers about the Nightmare Child. Ophion approaches the Janto woman. He asks about news of his betrothed's clan. She greets him, she knows who he is. She asks if he possesses the watery memories of the Janto people yet, and asks him why he is here, enquires why he is wearing the Emerald Blaze's colours if he is not one of them. She is not of Clan Krokos, she is one of the Keepers of Tethys Ruin. She tells him if he wants to rule the world, he should stick with them. Heian meets with the Taerun elf. Heian enquires if the elf's companions are in the Hall of Lamentations. The Teyrin elf responds, inviting Heian to stay and watch the proceedings with them, as "one who sees as clearly should stay in the shadows, not the light". One of the observers shouts at Atala, saying that she has been chosen but not by them. It’s the woman from the Silver Order from the safe house from the mirror. Galaxy lights explode, everything goes green, a palanquin is brought in. The palanquin is resplendent with treasure flowers, emeralds, semi precious stones. Everyone but Kunoh hears whispers. Ophion hears about timeless dragon god kings, Ruben about some white wasps, Atala hears sniggering about warring merrid, a broken treasury of Pashida in the Citadel of 10000 Pearls. Heian hears something about singularities, and the speaker sounds concerned. Mayb hears something about undead jaguar armies, and she reveals herself to the warlock who spoke and asked where they heard these stories. The warlock from the Titan Light coven tells her that's what they heard is making the cities to the west go silent, and that they lost 2 of their brothers. Someone, the Sem Seer, steps off the palanquin, and everyone goes silent. The 13 witnesses all resume their previous positions. A woman we have not seen before steps forward, she is the caller of the Cherished of the Emerald's Blaze. She calls forth the witnesses. 1 - Dark Port of the White Faction of the Mysteries of the Hidden. 2 - the Yasar of the Mirror Host. 3 - the Dread child of the Starless Communion. 4 - Knossos, servant of the Faceless Master. 5 - the Arch Metronome of Drana's Hammer. 6 - Quant Zaniel Darksun of the Arcane Hall of the Great University. 7 - Brood Lord of the Nebulous Prestige. 8 - Jamal Clay for the Faithful of the Fallen Sosso. 9 - Mocha, western bloc of Ol Alem. 10 - Shabba Garlem of the Golden Brazier. 11 - Boss Jang of the Keepers of Tethys Ruin. 12 - Goro Liadon of the Diabolists. 13 - Solstice Ashdragon for the Shadow Masters of the Teyrin. Heian realises the 12th speaker is an elf ... his kin? Could it be? Zyrell and Afra come out and they have the orb floating between them. They hold it, one touching the top, the other touching the bottom. The room around us gets darker and darker. The music swells, people start dancing. The room pulls away, it gets hot, ribbons of fiery energy. Shadows, lava dripping, coalescing around Zyrell and Afra. We see other shadows and realise we're not in the amphitheatre anymore. Ophion and Kunoh do not immediately understand why, but Atala and Mayb realise this is the Wyrding (Echo Planes). Heian and Ruben see 3 shadows coalesce, one flies past, feathery ... "Doom" ... and another with spikes and jewels ... "Dying" ... followed by a third, pure halo of black, rubies flashing ... "Dead". Ruben realises they are the Witch Queens, and they're talking about the Wyrding. He understands that the parts of them that were trapped in the Wyrding have been freed and have joined in with the other parts of them in our plane. Ophion and Kunoh see instead 2 four limbed creatures, and they recognise them as Loa, they are now riding Zyrell and Afra. Liquid black lava flows all around. Everything goes back to normal, back in the amphitheatre, everyone back in the same place, only Zyrell and Afra have left the stage. We are all shining brightly. We are now known as the Champions of Emerald's Blaze. Heian asks Solstice Ashdragon if Goro is "one of them", an elf. She confirms he is. The witnesses are called again to comment. 1 - Dark Port says they will kill to have access to the ink if they must. "We will trade blue chalk outlines for access to the ink" 2 - Yasar offers resources for trade for access. "We possess great reach and the resources of Empire. Accept our emissary and trade for access" 3 - The Dread Child wants nothing to do with the ink. "Mama Tet is right, you are nothing but loud green songbirds in a clear sky full of hungry raptors. We want nothing to do with the ink" 4 - Knossos says, "we make no claims or promises." 5 - the Arch Metronome says, "this will mean war. We welcome it." 6 - Darksun states that all artifacts should be catalogued to be fully understood, and that the universities will exchange their knowledge for access to the ink. "All great artefacts should be fully understood and a record of their function and origin be kept for the ages. Our archives are impressive with the knowledge of all existence. We would send an emissary to exchange our knowledge for the ink." 7 - the Nebulous Prestige says, "we reserve the right to silence." 8 - the Faithful of the Fallen Sosso have dragons and gives the Emeralds Blaze a week to turn the ink over to them. "We do not bargain with pretenders. We witness only. The Sorcerer King and his faithful will take what is his. You have been witness to the destruction of the True Path, the Source Light, the Zakezi, Serra’s Knights, Battle Drums of Vecna, Marzi Tower, the Whitestar Imperials. You are witness to our present destruction of the Tal Alliance. If you think you may succeed where Tal has failed, remember that we possess the dragon covenants of confinement and impressment. We tell you what we tell all others who oppose us - you will suffer the fate of a stone dropped in water; you will simply disappear." 9 - Mocha of Ol Alam stated they serve Papan Geele (one of the Loa who is now riding the Emeralds Blaze). "We live to serve the will of the glorious Papan Geele. Our only purpose is to serve him." 10 - Shabba Garlem says that they will trade like for like, or they will instead just wait until the Emeralds Blaze are destroyed. They desire it, so one day, they will take it. "This would preserve Semudan for eternity. We will trade like for like and possess the ink. Or, if you refuse to trade, we will wait until you are destroyed by the Creed, or Sosso, or the Imperials, or the Order or Blasted Erg. Or. We may sound the ancient horn and call forth the Nightmare Child. We desire it and inevitably, we will take it." 11 - Boss Jang states that the Emeralds Blaze has forgotten but the Tethys Ruin remembers. "You have all forgotten, but we know what follows in the discontinuing wake of the Elder Gods. We would trade the hidden past for the undiscovered country." 12 - Goro says to tell him what they want for unfettered access to the ink. "Tell us what you want for unbound access. Otherwise suffer as the countless legions of hell strip your minds and peel the flesh from your bones." 13 - Solstice Ashdragon states that the Emeralds Blaze do not know the Loa, but that the Taerun do, and she warns if they want to survive, they should send them to the Hall of Lamentations. "We make no claim but warn only. You do not know the Loa, but we do. If you want to survive send this thing for keeping inside the Hall of Lamentations. It's possession will not bring you victory." The Convocation is announced to be closed. We awaken in the chamber, lying on the treasure flower petal beds. Attendants check on us. The Princess says they will give us a home if we wish, as their Champions. We receive a 20000 Gold reward. Kunoh receives this on behalf of the party. Afra and Zyrell have not returned with us. The Princess informs us there will be a small court in the morning. We say we will stay. We have not decided for how long, but we will at least stay the night and we plan to discuss it amongst ourselves as soon as possible. That night, we hear a big noise. the sky warbles. A massive tentacle comes out and flies across the sky. A long claw stretches across the horizon, seeming to almost break through. Stars start falling. the Silver Crown (Eonatator Urnericii, the Elder God of Ceaselessness) is falling apart. Ruben's arm vibrates like mad. Giant claws keep appearing, there is so much screaming, so many stars falling, disappearing. Atala tries to climb up the outside of the fortress. She gets halfway up, but realises there is a wall of force around it, stopping her from going any further. Heian sees something falling from the sky. It's a silver dragon, its name we know is Iorraen the Loud. The air rushes past it. It explodes, bright lights, fire. Heian realises it looked like it had been aimed. At us. At this point, we realise it must be the Faithful of the Fallen Sosso. They must have compelled the dragon to fly somewhere where they are forbidden, which caused the dragon to fall and explode. We manage to teleport through the Force Wall just as a brass dragon, known as Sadormi, comes hurtling towards us. Heian and Mayb get hurt, but everyone makes it through safely. The wolf and the monkey are still outside, having been given instructions to go and hide. There are guards with emerald pikes fighting shadow hunters - the Cherished of Emeralds Blaze vs the Kingdom of Sosso. We fight against the Sosso. Together with the guards, we manage to destroy one shadow hunter and 3 vampire spawn, while the others blink away. After the danger has past, Afra approaches us and says we have much to discuss, as this is the second time we have saved them. Heian has gone to find Solstice Ashdragon. Tranq has returned and met us at Korro's Court. Evening Lady Afra asks us to come with her. The palace has been stripped back to its bones. It looks like they're packing everything up to move. Ruben concludes they have moved on already and this is what is left. Afra confirms this, acknowledging this isn't their home, but she will take us there. She assures us it is on this plane. Zyrell protests, he doesn't want us to see. Afra leads us to a teleportation circle, with 6 points on the edge, instructing us to stand on them. Nick Furry is visibly distressed. Ophion talks to him, tries to encourage him, understands he must be missing his friend Onai. Nick Furry is very scared, doesn't seem to trust anyone even Ophion, but he reluctantly comes along. We teleport. We're deep in the jungle. The sky is torn, jagged edges, sickly green colour like the edges are infected, oozing, with nothing but blackness behind the tear. It's very hot & humid, monsoonal, raining. Brazil nut tree circles, trees at least a hundred metres tall. There's many structures, most of them partly buried, from an old civilisation, like a lot of architecture we've seen recently. Semudan maybe? A few hundred years old? We come to a palace. It looks to be from the Emerald Empire of Gaoro Semudan, the empire before the current day Ruby Empire of Redin Semudan. It looks like a typical royal residence, rather than a personal one. There's women dancing, covered head to toe in green paint. Afra tells us she protected us when we were "disassembled". She focuses on Ruben, telling him she especially protected him and his incredible mind, that she loved his machine-like mind, with all it's "tick tock vibrations", and that she wishes she could just scoop it out. She is quite keen for us to see what they can do with the ink. Zyrell & entourage arrive, coming out from a nearby building. Green painted men join the women dancing. The ink appears in the middle of the clearing. Ruben visibly perks up. Tranq immediately puts a hand on Ruben to steady him. The ink looks different from before. It looks even more like circuitry, and there's beiges and purples. Afra tells us "You didn't think you could teleport it, and you're right. But we can control it ... look!" She casts a teleport. The spell rips us from where we are, moves us and the ink, to the outskirts of what looks like an abandoned rundown Sosso city, and flattens it, easily a kilometre in every direction. We understand it because the loa are riding Afra and Zyrell now - as intermediaries between gods and people, they have more control. Ruben suspects the ink is folding reality. We return to ourselves, still deep in the jungle. Everyone else leaves us, except Afra. Tranq recognises this as a warning, but he's not sure who it is meant for. We are teleported back to Korro's Court. We can hear everyone running around, and we know we are not safe. As we set out to leave, we work out based on our timelines that those of us who were at the convocation are missing at least a week. We realise that's what Afra must've been referring to when she said they protected us when we were disassembled, we must've been held in suspended animation in The Spaces, but for what purpose we have not been told. Mayb has an idea. She makes a dimension door and ask Ruben to step through it. He is initially hesitant but Mayb assures him he can trust her, and so Ruben steps through. For a moment there are two Rubens ... and then just as quickly, they are one again. Tranq steps through. The same does not happen with him. Mayb looks into Ruben's eyes, asks him how he feels. He says he feels normal. Mayb can see the ink inside him. Tranq realises the strange smell he's been noticing is the ink in Ruben. Ruben cuts his finger and he bleeds as normal. Atala asks him to remove all his magical items, as she wants to detect magic on him. She finds it is all over him, strongest in his blood. Ruben is asked to show his arm. His scars look to be healing, but the damage is worse than anyone else realised. His entire arm is damaged, with the scarring all over his upper arm and past his shoulder now. The dimension door is still up. Mayb asks Ruben to go through it again. As he does, she sees and realises the ink is bonding with Ruben's system, becoming a part of him. There is nothing more we can do or work out at this stage so we move on. Ruben & Mayb decide to head into town to see if they can find out more about the Leopard Orchids. Atala & Tranq follow at a discreet distance. Ophion & Kunoh remain behind, training and sparring. Nick Furry is back to his old self now and he lazes about nearby. Early morning On their way to the academy, Ruben & Mayb come across a lot of very agitated people. Mobs start to form, people are alert, tensions are rising. They arrive at the Arcane Hall, it's not too busy, a few scribes copying down onto massive sheets. They start researching. They discover that Leopard Orchids are not a locally found flower, so they look into it more. In their rooms at sunrise, for just a second out the window Ophion & Kunoh see Mocha from Ol Alum standing there. But when they go outside to try to find her, she's not there. Tranq & Atala, who are on the roofs near the Academy, see that in the centre of the city, all dressed in red, there's the Revelations man with a huge mob around him, and they're all chanting about the end of days, calling to burn down the temples. From the other side of town, they see the Emperors Army heading towards the man & his crowd. A few people start climbing onto nearby roofs. Meanwhile, Kunoh & Ophion hear the rumblings from town and decide they'd better head in. A small girl approaches Kunoh on the outskirts of town, holds up a puppy to him, who licks his hand, and she says "We love you Catar". Other small children walk through the rioters, interacting with them, 'blessing' them. No full on riots, but some people are killed in the skirmishing. Atala tries to figure out if there's a pattern to the areas that are being targeted. She notices the children seem to go to the most tense pockets of people and actually seem to deescalate the issues, calming and healing people. Tranq notices a man who was trampled to death brought back to life by one of the children. Darksun Tower is under siege. Atala & Tranq watch as the children wander towards the edges of town, and disappear into balls of light, puppies too. Ruben & Mayb discover that there is no such flower anywhere called a Leopard Orchid. They find - a transcript of Mama Tet telling Emperor Darius (Semudan emperor from several hundred years ago) "31 or 13, what does it matter? You're a ghost walking backwards! You're obsessed with the 13, but you should be more concerned about the 31. But they'll all be extinct soon anyway". - mentions of a group called the Holders of the Blue Flame. They promised to care for everyone. They seem to still be active. Largely believed to be a cult that had a lot of power 20 years ago, but all but vanished when the Emperor died. - back in the days of the Sosso Rebellion, roughly 800 years ago, there was a group of children who healed the sick. Always recorded as a supernatural thing, some mentions of devils. They didn't seem to favour either side. Tranq & Atala, and Kunoh & Ophion all notice a lot of names in red have been written on the city walls overnight. From asking around, they learn this is Ol Alum, the idea is if your name appears, you will die within the week. One of the names is a well known member of the Golden Brazier. None of us know how to contact anyone from Ol Alum. Ruben asks the librarians to organise more information to be brought to this library regarding the children and the 31. Evening Ruben & Mayb head back to the Korro lodgings, Atala & Tranq following. They meet up with Ophion & Kunoh on the way who return with them. Someone notes the sky is still torn & bruised, just like what we saw in the jungle. No improvement. We all receive a message, it is Mama Tet. "Sweet Northern ghosts, you are of interest to many. I offer my protection if you want it. None of the empire's 50 million would touch you". Ophion suddenly changes briefly, looking like his exemplar form, huge angry demon, with a sigil burned into his chest. Atala sees brilliant platinum white wings sprout from Mayb's back. Morning We decide to go looking for the man who was resurrected. Ophion disguises himself as a vagrant, and disguises Tranq and Ruben as local citizens. We find out the man's name is Tavarus Stone. We go to his house. There are hundreds of people swarming outside. Tranq breaks away and heads into town. There are legions in the street. All the people who are around seem to be armed with some weapon or another. There are still crowds around, the Darksun Tower is smoking, people are trying to get inside. There are 2 robed figures standing in the crowd, Tranq recognises these as Ruby Imperials - magicians who work for the emperor. The Revelation group escalates again, calls to burn the city, pillars of fire come out of the sky directed onto temples and shrines. Priests defend themselves and attack in response. At Tavarus Stone's house, everyone seems to be meditating. The house is made of stone and thatch, with a sunken floor inside. Stone is sitting at his hearth. He is blazing with a white light. He sees us "Brothers & sisters, come forward to embrace the lifelight". Atala is immediately very defensive. Ophion starts steaming. Ruben is entranced. He recognises that the light is younger than the Elder Gods but older than just about anything else. He sees a symbol in the light - the first symbol of the first Atlantis! - and starts drawing it over and over again. Kunoh tries to get Ruben's attention but fails. Kunoh decides a repeat performance is undesirable so he puts his arm around Ruben and leads him away from the light. We realise we cannot get what we came from at this time. We leave Tavarus Stone's house. We hear the commotion from the city and head towards it. We meet up with Tranq, who tells us what's been happening. We decide to head back to the Korro residence, to see if there's anyone who can help us find out more. Early afternoon We talk to Deputy Seneschal Santrell, who is the highest ranking person remaining on the grounds. Atala asks him how we can contact the Imperial Mages. He cannot help us, he does not have that kind of influence. We start working on a plan.