RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Bennedict nods. "We'll wait. But someone should watch it to make sure nothing comes through. In the meantime, I'll go with to check this...bomb."
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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RocEter wrote: The armored swordsman has remained silent through out everything, his attention seemingly devoted to guarding the portal.

"I will join you, my presence should be more than enough to dissuade him and any friends he may have from attacking." He says to Dorgio.
Raen frowns "I also want to go and see the bomb. I have some knowledge in alchemy and I have seen the stuff used so I will be more useful there. But who would stay with the captive and the portal?"
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

Post by Wolfglide of the Fraternity »

Without looking up from his writing, Klokulf says, "I have no intention of leaving either unguarded."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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THE BOMB FACTORY AND BEYOND...


The tall captive takes Benn, Dorgio, Raen, and the Outlander warrior into another part of the dungeon, leaving the other half of the party to watch the warlock and the portal pool.

Going down the hall where the warlock was captured and through a series of side chambers and short corridors, he guides Benn and the others to a room about fifteen feet square, low ceilinged, with massive support pillars in the four corners.
Glass bottles and alchemical supplies cover the top of one of two wooden tables. A big box rests on the other table.
Crates line the far wall.

''This is it. The big box is a firebomb. I'd be really careful about waving a torch around in here. The warlock made a magic light for us, as needed.''

After they've had a chance to inspect the bomb shop and the incendiary bomb (it isn't lit) , the captive leads the party to a nearby chamber, similar in structure and furniture, but equipped with a hand press, papers, ink, and type instead of alchemical supplies and a bomb.

''One of the men ran that press. That was the warlock's idea. Make broadsides against the government, stir things up. Get people to blame foreigners for problems in the city. He talked a lot about the coming changes, when he and his allies would rule. I didn't want any part in that madness. I...can't recall what convinced me to go along. Sorcery, maybe!''

An inspection of the makeshift printshop shows it could be the source of the letter Benn had from the Woman-Killer and also the Faklovnian terrorist note. At least, the jumble of different size and style type kept in this room and the paper seem to match.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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ewancummins wrote: "I...can't recall what convinced me to go along. Sorcery, maybe!''
"It's called 'gold' and lack of proper morals."
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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alhoon wrote:
ewancummins wrote: "I...can't recall what convinced me to go along. Sorcery, maybe!''
"It's called 'gold' and lack of proper morals."

''Yeah? And why did you freeze and crush my fellows? Just being a good citizen, eh? Selfless hero. I'm sure you aren't on the Renier payroll."
The tall man sneers at Raen.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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IN THE PRINT ROOM


BENN INTERVIEWS THE TALL PRISONER

Adam wrote:The Lamordian considers for a moment, stroking his mustache. "You seem a practical sort of fellow. I can be practical as well, if the reward is worth it. This red-haired man, Jonathon Maytr, is a terrible thing. A monster in human skin. That is my prey, not a socialist group trying to stir up trouble in the city, or those they dupe into doing their flunky work. But understand, I know le Grand Dame. Personally. I've had dinner with her. If this turns out to NOT be worth my while, I assure you that you will long for a noose after the trouble your group has caused. So. Make it worth my while, and I'll see what I can do. If you know me, you know I've employed your sort in the past, and that my word is good."



“Maytr isn't in the city. At least, I don't think he is. But the Black Dog said the dead man, the one it had us dig up, had called it here to hunt Maytr, years ago. The dead man, Strange, he trapped it here somehow. It couldn't reach Maytr, though it had found signs of him in Mordentshire.”
The man scratches his head.
“The Black Dog kept that hairdresser, Étienne, pretty close. Like the warlock, Agremond, the hairdresser was not one of my gang. Did you capture him? Dead? Anyway, the Black Dog often whispered in his ear, seemed to be goading him toward something. I was never clear on what part he played in the plan, but I know he was very interested in Jonathon Maytr. He owned a copy of the book about the murders. The Woman-Killer. And he'd worked at the Lorelei, where pretty Rosalind was carved up back when Gaston Van Diecks ran the place, after somebody did in Clement Malreux. That was all about eight years back. I understand this man Maytr was the one who murdered Evangeline Sancerre. But he wasn't in the ring with Van Diecks, Malreux, Pierre Renault, or that creepy foreigner, Doktor Zoltan.”
The man coughs.
“Nor as I! Gaston Van Diecks was my rival, not my friend. I did know him pretty well, from the old days in Saint-Ronges. I’m trying to play it straight with you, giving you everything I know that might help. Jonathon Maytr is your business. Mine is getting out of town with whatever is left of my gang.”
Bennedict obviously burns in frustration. "He's not here..." he shakes his head, cursing quietly in Lamordian. "So you used the book to copy-cat the murders? To draw our attention?"

He shakes his head again. "This Black Dog. What is it? Where did it come from?
"

Murders?"
The man shakes his head.
"I didn't know. But after the arson and all the talk of revolution, I'm not surprised their plot involved murder. Who was it? Some innocent women, then?"
He frowns.
"I'd not have ordered that. I do have some rules I live by. But the Black Dog's laws are hard laws, cruel laws. It told me that. And it said even the 'laws of nature' bent and failed where it walked. Maybe it meant the cloud that came with it. The monster came from the Pit the Ezran priests tell us of, I'm certain! The man, Strange, conjured it. It said Benn Gehrman and Dorgio Varga were his allies, and that in the end it would do worse to them than it had done to him, unless they helped it go home again. As for what exactly it was, I don't know. Sometimes it changed, looked like a sort of hideous dwarf, but spoke with the same evil voice. Its voice could...sort of...get in your head.''



Adam wrote:
The detective nodded. "Aye, murders of working girls. Done in a way to imitate the killer from long ago. A sure way to draw our attention. Much now makes sense..."

He looks up to the man. "The body your men dug up from the cemetery. Where is it? Why did you need it? Another red herring, or for something more important?"

''They were using the body for the ritual. I think it was because the dead guy was the one that summoned the Black Dog to our world in the first place.''


















IN THE PORTAL CHAMBER WHILE HALF THE PARTY IS ABSENT

Wolfglide wrote: Back in the portal chamber, Klokulf continues his writing. Occasionally, he looks up to observe the prisoner or behind to check on the portal.

After several minutes, he voices a query. "Alwina, what reason do the submen have to raid the surface of your world? Also, can they speak like true men?" He does not look up from his scribbling as he asks.


''They come to get meat. Animals and us. My people stay in the Palace at night with the doors and windows barred.''
She shivers and draws her borrowed clothes closer to her body.
"I heard them squeaking and hissing at each other, down in the tunnels as they hunted me, and I was sure they were talking. But I didn't understand their language. I don't think I want to know what kind of things they like to talk about...
I've been told they can understand us, and even imitate our human speech."
Wolfglide wrote:
"I see," Klokulf replies, furiously inscribing non-sequiturs into his book.

Soon, he ceases his writing and withdraws a second, identical book from his pack. He opens it nearly as deep as the first, then intones a Vaasi prayer.

"Though all mortal things impermanent be,
In preservation of record please assist me."

The words in the first book begin to appear in the second book, as though written by an unseen hand.

Klokulf then turns back to reading the spellbook until his sight wears off.


--------------------------------



After the exploration of the bomb-making and printing rooms has finished and the party is reunited.


KLOKULF studies the wizard’s grimoire. The book contains many magical formulae: spells to manifest light and to plunge a zone into deep gloom, blast enemies with fire, turn foes into friends, conjure monsters, and more…
He replaces his shewstone and goes to sleep…
VIEW CONTENT:
Garbled lines of magical script and esoteric symbols appear in all the books he finds in the vast, shadowy dream library.
RAEN has trouble sleeping.
VIEW CONTENT:
He can hear rats squealing as the skitter about, their scaly tails softly scraping against the flagstones. He never actually sees the rodents, except as indistinct blots of darkness that melt to thin air whenever he shines a light into their darkened spaces. But he can hear them. Sometimes their squeaks sound more like words but nothing he comprehends.
And, he soon realizes. He’s the only one who hears the vermin.
But fatigue works on his body and mind, and after a fitful hour or so, he at last slides into an uneasy sleep…
ALAIN, being warm enough, dry, and having eaten a modest meal, finds sleep comes easily.
VIEW CONTENT:
He sees Tarth Moorda, the mesa fortress of the Fire Hawks. Thence he came as a young man from Furyondy, with his sister, to learn combat magic under the harsh tutelage of the school’s headmistress and in battle against the Suelite robbers who roam the arid lands beyond the Abbor-Alz.
Or was that someone else’s story? A plan, a path not taken?

He’s seated in a tower room, sunlight falling over an open book in his lap. His pen scratches away—then pauses—then moves again over the paper as he writes his journal with pauses to think. It’s getting harder to make the details match up, to keep our interpolations and false connections, memories of grim Doraaka.
No, that’s the capital of the Old One! He hasn’t been there. Has he?
The foreign name that creeps into his journals is spelled differently.
Darkon.
The bell chimes. Time for another round of training in the courtyard below…
BENN, tired and wet, sleeps heavily if not comfortably.


KAT’s looted several fairly clean blankets and a palette from the enemy’s makeshift barracks.
VIEW CONTENT:
Dungeon or not, she’s slept rougher than this in her time.
THE OUTLANDER

Finds his alertness slipping over the course of the night, as no monsters burst up through the heap atop the portal.
Now and again, he hears a rattling noise, spies a little a puff of mist, but mostly…nothing.
VIEW CONTENT:
Given a long and uneventful vigil, many a man might be tempted to, say, go lean against a wall and crack open a good book…

AFTER A NIGHT'S SLEEP...



The Outlander wakens the party members, one by one, then he retreats to a side room, doffs his armor, and falls into a heavy sleep with a couple of blankets thrown over him. He sleeps with one hand on the hilt of his massive beheading sword.

Dorgio ventures upstairs to pray as the sun rises.

The others all have time to prepare spells (though Klokulf's appointed time of prayer hasn't yet arrived), relieve themselves in some other part of the dungeon, eat a cold breakfast (from their own supplies or out of the meager store of food they found in the enemy barracks room), and otherwise get ready for what’s to come.

A couple of hours after the Outlander woke the party members, Dorgio wakes him.
The portal-crossed warrior dresses in his armor with some help from the cleric while Benn and the others clear the portal disk of the makeshift barrier, and begin setting up for the Incantation of the Dark Road.

The battle smoke of the day before is long gone, but the stink of death fills this place, even with bodies both human and subhuman dragged down a side hall. Not decay, not yet--but congealed blood, soiled garments, burned hair.

Those looking at the spot where the Black dog perished see a big, dark and vaguely canine stain. It smells of gunpowder.

The portal, once uncovered, boils with black mists. Grinding sounds echo from deep within it.
Last edited by ewancummins on Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:57 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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ewancummins wrote:''Yeah? And why did you freeze and crush my fellows? Just being a good citizen, eh? Selfless hero. I'm sure you aren't on the Renier payroll."
The tall man sneers at Raen.
Raen is fast to reply. "We're sitting in front of a big bomb and lab that your fellows used to kill innocent people. Burn them to death. Behind us is a portal your fellows were guarding that brought in every kind of problem.
We killed your fellows because they were trying to destroy this part of the world. And they did it for gold."

AFTER REST:
Raen inspects the portal. "Let's see what we can do to seal this thing. I am ready to help Bennedict. Or you prefer I keep my wits and try to counter any problems that may arise instead of taking part in the ritual?"
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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THE EVENING PRIOR...
alhoon wrote:
ewancummins wrote:''Yeah? And why did you freeze and crush my fellows? Just being a good citizen, eh? Selfless hero. I'm sure you aren't on the Renier payroll."
The tall man sneers at Raen.
Raen is fast to reply. "We're sitting in front of a big bomb and lab that your fellows used to kill innocent people. Burn them to death. Behind us is a portal your fellows were guarding that brought in every kind of problem.
We killed your fellows because they were trying to destroy this part of the world. And they did it for gold."

The man ignores Raen's reply.



THIS MORNING, IN THE PORTAL CHAMBER


The Tall Man pauses to glare at Raen for a moment, before packing a half-eaten loaf of bread and a bottle of wine into a backpack.


He turns to Benn, relaxing a little.

"Good luck, Lamordian. Sounds like you'll need it. Oh, and I'd take it as a favor if you saw the men given a burial."



Dorgio steps up to the man.
"We will. And I pray you'll walk in the light now, given this second chance."

The Tall Man blinks.
"'I...I'll try to stay out of trouble, yeah."

He glances at the Gaunt Man.
"Fortune's a harlot."

Then he turns to go.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Klokulf smirks slightly, "Indeed she is." He fingers his noticeably reduced mustache, looking less burned after a morning pruning.
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

Post by Lord Skybolt »

After Alain Mediates on his unconscious accesable war magic for an hour on arising from his rest . Looking at the Tall man as he leaves thinking to himself he will need to keep his ears open to see if he lives upto that promise .
"Evil only endures when good people remain silent ."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Bennedict offers the man a card and sends him on his way.

"Let's see that this is done." he says, nodding towards the portal.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Adam wrote:Bennedict offers the man a card and sends him on his way.

"Let's see that this is done." he says, nodding towards the portal.

Work begins on drawing the chalk circles and symbols, arranging and lighting candles and braziers, moving in the requisite corpse...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Fourteen

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With a dead man placed beside the portal pool and all the candles and braziers lit, circles and sigils chalked, the incantation begins at last.

The guttural accents of Hell echo off the round stone wall of the big, high-vaulted portal chamber, but if infernal powers take notice of this ritual, no immediate sign tells of such attention…

Midway through the lengthy rite, Klokulf detects a distinct increase in the resonances of the ether in the area, particularly the space in and about the portal disk.
The reek of smoke and slaughter grows so oppressive that just remaining in the room and chanting the words proves difficult.



,Everyone present sees the portal disk take on a glistening, liquid appearance and slowly expand like a soap bubble. Pale faces appear and disappear on the shimmering gray surface of hemisphere, and though the ghostly lips move as if in speech, no sound comes from the portal.
Fires—candles, torches, and coals-- dim all around the room.
The air grows deathly chill.
Through it all, the Outlander and Alain stand guard, waiting and watching for the unexpected emergence of any threat crossing the portal disk and endangering the casters.
No monsters leap out, at least, not yet.
Benn assays the final portion of the rite, but stumbles at a difficult passage.

The bubble pops with a faint sigh.

Benn and the others who helped cast feel a terrible weight of exhaustion pressing down on them.
Dorgio mutters, “We failed.”

But then a wan green light fills the portal disk.
The floor groans, and in another instant the whole substructure drops and slides inward, dumping anyone not very nimble or very lucky through the widening portal circle into the swirling, green-lit mists…


END OF CHAPTER

Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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