SESSION 69 (nice) DENDOMIEL NOTES
THE GAME
Rules of this world ascribed to the cutting of The Tree of Tales, Yggdrasil, that Dal read:
The game was to be played 'in the fullness of time'
No divine games in this world -- no gods shall interrupt, tempt, gather followers
Purpose of the game is to show definition of sin and good
World shall not be marred, sullied, blessed, enriched
World is separated by an ocean of void, cannot be interfered with
Experiment of passivity to test mortal sin
All of this world shall be measured and tested at the end of their time
This whole game is a reckoning
Tree is Yggdrasil. Tree at Dendomiel is 'Yggdrasilanor of Ao', the agreement between Asmodeus "The Lord of the Hells" and Ao "The Overseer of All".
AWARTH/ BAALMON
Baalmon is Awarth's subordinate
When summoning Awarth, Baalmon called up 'Miss Gorgoth'. -- Reb knows this as an elvish word that means 'inheritor'. So when you kill someone and inherit their princess title, you would be a gorgoth. The rest of us who speak elvish might know it as a different word: traitor.
Awarth broke adamantine off the palace of treaties, then sent building to next to bardh. "I never got enough praise, before".
Baalmon: cannot fix the problem (world ending). But I can aid. And any aid I give you will slow it down.
Awarth and Baalmon stopped the ships leaving in the first place. Dal: 'Can you two of you give us any insight into why it's so ruined? [...] it was already ruined when we got to the forest. [...] There's multiple fucked uppery going on.' Baalmon: 'Then what fuck uppery would you like to understand?' Vanya: 'I suppose why the ships weren't going across to the tree to begin with.' Baalmon: 'Ah, that would be my fault. And also Awarth.' [Awarth giggles]. Dal: 'On purpose or by accident?' Vanya: 'Did this have anything to do with the infernal war with the elves?' Baalmon doesn't answer Dal's question.
Baalmon said 'war' is a strong word for whatever happened with the elves. Awarth: The elves thought it was a war for sure. I think it was just a game though. Fun, yes. But it was all fun at a higher power so it was all punching up. Oksana: What higher power? Awarth: I'm not allowed to say. Oksana: Is that the one who cursed you? Awarth: Yup. Dal: is that higher power someone we would know of in our mortal bubble? Baalmon: No, quite deliberately. Simply by allowing you to know would be against the rules.
Game still happening? Baalmon: What a fun question. Somewhat. Though perhaps I think some of the participants have forgotten that there was a game. Oksana: Who are the participants? Dal: Is it perhaps everyone? Baalmon: All of you and everyone you've ever known have participated in the game, yes.
What are you rules of this game? Baalmon: It is a game of non-interference. A game of pacivity and observation. A game of fiends. And power. And a game of what happens to mortals if you leave them all alone.
So this world is an experiment? Baalmon: Exactly. Sigrid: But you didn't leave us alone. We are doing all of your bidding [in retrospect -- 'you didn't leave us alone. You broke the ships/ measuring of souls' is better, but we didn't know about measuring at that point.]. Dal: We opted in. Baalmon: Thus showing which side the mortal bread is buttered.
So the boats not going across is because of this game? What about corruption? Is that also part of the game? Baalmon: Well no, it was a byproduct. A request. Oksana: From this higher power? Baalmon: Oh, no no no. Mortals simply do not know when to quit. Dal: So a safety measure. Baalmon: Yes, you could call it that. Dal: Though there are definitely some people in this world who can surpass normal restrictions. Baalmon: Ever innovative. It will be their loss in the end.
Vanya: So why did it happen to me in a place where corruption couldn't happen? Baalmon: This is getting all rather philosophical. Perhaps you will find the answers within yourself.
Dal: If in theory we did fix the afterlife and the ships problem that you enacted, would it make everything worse? Baalmon: Our transports, they ferry the souls back to the tree to leave the experiment at last. I do not think the breaking of this world would be slowed by re-enabling those ships, do you?
Vanya: I think it's more life coming in that's the thing that's breaking it. Baalmon: That you wish for more life to enter the world. That is part of the agreement, yes? Oksana: As it usually does, da. Vanya: For spring to happen as it would. Dal: Food existing for people who need it. Vanya: Plants growing. Baalmon: This together perhaps Awarth and I can do.
Then Baalmon gave the aid against world decay, dancing, giggling, like a thunderstorm closeness.
Awarth is immune to lower powered (6th level or lower) magic unless she chooses to be affected by it.
Artus: Do you know of any other entities that broke the non interference rule with this world? Awarth: There's only really been one that's properly broken it. But I don't know them. Oksana: Do you know their name? Dal: Or the title they go by? Awarth: Nope. But the rule was broken. Dal: Is that why this world is falling apart? No, they came after. They tried to fix it. Oksana: Are they still there? Awarth: No idea! I don't really care. Oksana: What do you care about? Awarth: Dying. Vanya: In favour of, or against? Awarth: Yes. Well this has been absolutely lovely, Vanya. But I have other body parts to find.
Vanya: Quick question, do you know Gol Er Caab [(sp?)? A name she found in the Glittering Chambers library, older than the Glittering Chambers.] Awarth: No idea!
RTT asks about tabaxi Reginald Thresh. Baalmon: The creature you know as Reginald Thresh is dead. You are speaking indeed of a fiend. RTT: What is the true name of the fiend who impersonates Reginald Thresh? Baalmon: Lord of the Hells, slave and slaver, Abdiel, Prince of the Damned. Vanya: Do you like him? Do you not like him? Baalmon: Like has such connotations. Were Abdiel to be removed, certain positions would be opened. And I would not begrudge that. RTT: [will there be a reward for killing him?] Baalmon: Bring me his head and then we will talk.
Oksana: If we wanted to get in contact with you, is there a way we could do that? Baalmon: Speak my name into the lava. I will hear it and decide if you are worth the time.
ENVIRONMENT:
We're in another world. A kind of Infernal Dreaming, where Vanya, Awarth and Baalmon would be at home here but the rest of us would not. When going through the portal with hunter's mark up on someone in the party, the tracking was entirely lost upon separation, then regained when Sigrid also went through.
Adamantine hanging in the air, we together took 500 pounds of it.
Adamantine was initially intended as some sort of defence mechanism rather than to seal something in. When asked what happened here, Awarth said of the Adamantine covered palace, "it was really sad".
Cannot see moons. Make out deep crimson/ muddy brown sky, no obvious shapes.
Something about the tree that appears to be a protective enchantment to stop people straight up reading it (makes sense with Ao and Asmodeus not wanting to be perceived).
Infernal graffiti was shitposting 'Mikey was ere'
Baalmon was charged with defending this location [he gestured at where the palace was]. Interesting that he was defending the adamantine-covered palace and not the lava leg. Oksana: Did you have to defend it often? Baalmon: it has been a quiet century or two.
SPEAK WITH PLANTS ON YGGDRASIL CUTTING: Oksana feels that the only living plants in the area are the ones we brought with us. The tree we are next to is quite dead. However there is powerful magic stored within its bark, layer upon layer of enchantment. We hear a faint ethereal whisper. Not words, almost like a dying breath trying to sing. Oksana tries to take a sample of the bark after asking first -- there's no response. Oksana pushes the knife towards the bark and the blade explodes.
POST-SESSION Qs:
So why did Awarth and Baalmon stop the ships? Why interrupt that process, stop the game being effective?
Baalmon referred to the ships as 'Our' transports. Who owns/ created the ships, Infernals? Asmodeus?
Who are Awarth and Baalmon loyal to? Are they against only one or both of the higher powers who started the game? Who is this lava person they're trying to assemble and why?
Awarth didn't "get enough praise before" and now she is known as Gorgoth, traitor/inheritor. What was the before, what happened?
How are Awarth and Baalmon allowed to interfere with this world? (ships, lava man, telling us about the higher powers and the game)
Is this the only world to have an ocean to separate us and the tree? The only world to have a creature of the deep? (poor lonely Dabby)
The elves must have known all this, highly doubtful that they could not read this tree too at least once like Dal did. How did elves become caught in the crossfire of Awarth 'punching up' during the war?
Awarth cursed by a higher power she was punching up at during the elven 'war'. Us knowing of the higher power would be breaking the rules -- so presumably one of either Ao or Asmodeus?
Who tf requested corruption? It wasn't a higher power. It wasn't by design. Is that not interfering with the game? Unless it was mortals who created it. On why corruption exists, Baalmon answered: "Mortals simply do not know when to quit". So Dal could be right, corruption could have been an intentional safety measure against mortals' unlimited power made by someone unaffected by the game rules , OR corruption was mortals' own doing, intentional or not.
Baalmon's "It will be their loss in the end" when talking about people unaffected by corruption. 'Loss' as a proper noun, connected to The Loss? Why is it their loss not to be affected by corruption?
Is this place one of the Quadrants at the sphincter perhaps? Waking, Dreaming, [lava/hell place], ???
Vanya's runes are a similar enchantment to the tree but easier for Dal to break through. They may explain more about the tiefling curse, and maybe how it connects to the world lore/ game. Jess/Sam to send that info to Kirsty, info not shared with group (yet).
So who broke the non interference rule? Not a higher power, since Awarth could talk about them. Not Dabby, since Awarth didn't know them. This rule breaker came after the world falling apart, "they tried to fix it".
Also the way Artus worded the above question, do you know any other rulebreakers -- Awarth didn't correct him that she hadn't broken a rule. Obviously TBC but it makes sense if her stopping the ships moving to the tree is a rule broken and that's why she was cursed by a higher power.
What is the whole Fiend monarchy/ Asmodeus set up? What are the rules, what can we fuck around with?
Both Asmodeus and Abdiel have the title 'Lord of the Hells'. Abdiel is Prince of the Damned -- wtf is Asmodeus? If we killed Abdiel, are we fucking with a higher power's heir?
Yggdrasil contract said: "Let the reckoning commence in the fullness of time." In this context, Qwyn's prophetic 'Reckoning of Death' sounds like the moment when souls are measured. [The prophecy: ‘When the moment comes that the world becomes shrouded in shadows the chosen one will bind them to their will and bring forth a reckoning of death.’] Considering souls haven't been ABLE to be measured due to ships not making it to the tree. Did Qwyn actually do a good thing by bypassing the ocean and sending souls, not to the tree, but to float around the tree that Ao can catch them with a big net and measure them? Surely it's not interfering if they just fix the measuring point of contact and not the actual world.
Was Awarth always a fiend? Was this a transformation she had?
Has anything changed for Dabby and the Ocean/ Stem since Baalmon and Awarth brought new life into the world?
What does Progenitor/ancestor means exactly to Awarth. Did she have children who were tieflings? Did she turn people into them?
Does the Queen of Light know about this game or the being that broke the rules trying to fix it?
When/ Why did Abdiel take over as Thresh?
What does Baalmon know about the ichor-covered skeletons of land mammals at the bottom of the lake that Father calls the plug?
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