Vast Expectations, (part 12) Finale

Log Info

• Title: Vast Expectations, part 12, Finale
• Emitter: Whirlpool
• Characters: Paenitia, Faranmidahn, Jinks, Lysos, Edinaz
• Place: That time in the Vast
• Time: Monday, April 04, 2022, 8:24 PM
• Summary: Siezing a moment's respite, the exploration group bravely runs away into the long grass. There, they shelter and discuss what they've seen. Knights of Dragonieer fighting demons and devils and an immense dragon, a boy seeing a prophesy before being destroyed by a time crawler, directing them that 'you have to save her'. Who is 'her', what is threatening her, where is it happening, when. Why? So many questions, so few answers. The Vast and broken time didn't exist before the demon wars, but no one is sure how it came about or how long that demon war lasted. One hundred years, two, three? Five hundred years ago? Overwhelmed and overawed, they make their way back to the airship and Alexandria.

Previously

The battle rages on, with the party regaining their senses. Jinks continues his song, Edinaz bleeds out, while Farland, Lysos, and Faranmidahn compose themselves, re-arm, and attempt to heal each other. Jinks' Glitterdust blinds the Vrocks, and they are beset and several slain prompting the rest to flee. Av-de fires arrows, while Paenitia challenges the battling titans but settles for skewering a Vrock. Blood rains down. Above, dragons and dragon-riding knights battle demons and devils in a titanic struggle that the expedition is an overlooked witness too.

This time, Farland has summoned up some celestial steeds. Enough for everyone. "Grab on," he says, of the horses. It's mostly to get the hell out of here, at the moment. You've learned quite a bit, too.

Av-de is gonna lead the way -- either way, time to get out from under this hellish battlescape.

Ramirez and Paenitia chase the Vrocks a little further before Faran's words catch up with them. She's already been lost in time once... maybe twice... just possibly three times. It's not worth the risk.

They circle and drop down, landing, covered in blood. Her grinning mask looking all the more fearsome under the spatters of gore.

"Comrades! We prevail! We do not fall and see the enemies flee the field. It is glorious." She turns to look at Av-de, "lead us on chevalier."

Edinaz latches on to a magical horse, and climbs on painfully. He, at least, is all connected together again. Life is good. Let's bravely run away.

Tucking her lance into it's place on her saddle, Faran then turns her attention to securing her Greatsword and taking up her reins as the new spellwork oF Farland brings them new steeds.

She frowns for a moment in thought, then guides Torrent into scrambling up onto one of the creatures and secures herself.

She imagines the tale of this fight will be quite the mix of words, though she isn't sure how much she missed...

As they group thunders away from the calamity in the sky, she twists in the saddle to watch just a little longer before the moment is lost to them forever.

Lysos dismisses her invisibility.. last thing she needs is her own friends and allies not knowing where she is.. as she too claims one of the magical horses. All the while wondering if this is a trip she wants to remember, or one that's better lost in the bottom of a wine bottle.

Now

The Red Knight casts her gaze around, with a stare upwards at the battle overhead. It would be a glorious way to go out, flitting between the dragon riders. She tears her gaze away, facing all with her ever-grinning mask. "Now is the time to sneak away."

Faranmidhan, on Torrent, on a horse, gets a long look. Well, at least Av-de isn't riding a horse.

That would be ... weird.

Fleeing. Fleeing is good.

And it's probably a good thing you did, too, because the dragon on the other side of the portal seems to have gotten the better of the demon, given the great gout of blood that just rained down over where you are. That much blood can't be good for anyone, let alone anyone touched by it. Demon blood is bad.

Smaller dragons, now, zip into the area. 'Smaller' being relative, of course, and they appear to be fighting the vrocks, with men upon their backs. Dragon-riders, it seems!

"GO GO GO," yells Farland.

Their armor is ... strange looking and unsurprisingly archaic but you don't really have time to get a better look. Time to go.

<OOC> Jinks says, "Jinks will finish his fourth round of Soothing Performing. It's a CSW, Mass at his caster level."
GAME: Jinks rolls 3d8+13: (11)+13: 24

"Use the shadow horse, tallman, it's better," Jinks tells Lysos after his song has finished and healing energies wash over his allies. He's unbiased, too, naturally, so it's obviously a fact. The gnome finds a pony and climbs aboard, clicking his tongue and giving it a few affectionate pats before he kicks it into motion.

His black eyes glitter as he looks over his shoulder at the retreating form of demons and dragonriders in the sky. "Almost makes you miss Dragonier, eh? We aren't liable to see that sort of thing much anymore..."

"Ha! You have the improved skills." Paenitia says, cheerful despite the blood rain. She has a large hat that she sets on Ramirez's head to keep the blood out of his eyes. She leans along his neck to do so. "Sir Faranmidahn, do you see the improvement with him?"

'Ruaaaah!' Ramirez does not miss Dragonier, no.

The Red Knight and her Ivory steed move to the rear of the group.

Lysos pauses, hands upon the new magical horse's saddle, staring at Jinks, perplexed. Bedraggled, stunned, perhaps in minor shock, it takes a few moments to figure out what he's talking about.. then looks around. She'd forgotten about the shadow horse. And, of course, it's right there where she left it. Trusting in the gnome's word, she hurries over and climbs back upon the shadow mount's saddle.. and then she urges it forward, following, keeping her head tucked in close to its neck.

It's certainly a bizarre concurrance of events that have led to this eventuality.

Faran looks to her fellow knight, an awkward grin mostly hidden behind the slats of her visor as she catches the look.

Jinks remark about Dragonier brings her attention back toward the flight of mounted dragonriders dogfighting around an arterial(possible veinal, to be fair) deluge.

Back in Alexandria, a white fluffy spider is trying to figure out just what in the hell is going through her Mistress's head.

The question turned her way draws the spider Knight back to the moment and she nods, "I did!" as the phantasmal mounts ready to bear them away.

So, that's the good news.

You've survived and gained some valuable insight into time. There'll be a bit of, ahem, time to work on that soon enough. Flashes of light, then, and the rip seems to seal, but you get the feeling, for some reason, that you haven't seen the last of that enormous dragon. Something about it stays with you, flee as you might.

Eventually, things have to slow down and Farland lets out a breath. Av-de gestures towards some tall grass that you can take shelter in. It's taller than he is. "Stay close," he says.

"Do you think it's safe to retrieve the stone?" Jinks wonders, looking between Farland and Av-De. The minstrel knows a little bit of everything but is far from an expert on these sorts of matters. "We're a good distance from where the thing sought to pull itself through time..."

He's turning this way and that in the saddle, performing a headcount. So close to wrapping their business it wouldn't do to realize someone was missing. Realizing nothing is giving pursuit, the gnome does go ahead and put the bow back in its sling on his back. "... that was quite the charge, dame," he finally finds time to grin at Paenitia.

"How high is the grass?" Paenitia asks, seeing Av-de vanish into it. "I have not seen the grass so tall before."

She and Ramirez follow the centaur into the weeds. Red blends very well with green, unexpectedly so. They vanish almost without effort.

It is harder for her to leave her desires behind, to fight alongside the dragon or to fight he dragon. It would be a suitable challenge.

For later... the sense that she will see it again buoys her spirits, even as she struggles to remember its scale colours. The red was overwhelming.

"Ah! Thank you my friend." The ever-grinning mask faces the gnome, and the Lucht Siuil's voice behind it is cheerful and bright, "To show me the ass is too tempting the target. The back turn is a grave insult. The demonio do not survive the lesson, the other will have to learn it!"

"It's entirely too tall. Makes me wonder if that's why the halflings survive here," remarks Farland, dryly.

"So that was wild."

Still sore from the savage raking she'd taken, Faran nods, ignoring the angry throb of wounds that have been blessed into not bleeding anymore.

"We survive because we're Lucht Siuil, of course." she replies loftily, with a thread of playfulness in her tone.

She reaches out to the lush vegetation about her and notes, "I've never seen grass this tall, either, to be fair."

Ahem, "Is everyone alright?"

The magical mount Jinks provided her with seems to know what it's doing; either picking up on Lysos's wants, or knowing to follow the others, it keeps pace and slows when the others do. Lysos herself finally raises her head to look around, almost afraid of what she might see.. the tall grasses are met with both relief and hesitation. Who knows what might be hiding in there? Thanks to Jinks's healing before the latest mad retreat, she isn't doing as badly as she had been, so she just shakes her head at Faranmidahn. "I'm okay."

"They take the lesson into the past," Jinks observes with a grin at Paenitia, steering the horse down into the grass. "You might meet a demon tomorrow that's terrified of the masked knight and her albino steed after hearing tales for hundreds of years."

The gnome nods tightly before each of them are lost in turn into the sea of vegetation. "I have more healing but the healing requires a song... the song is loud. It'll need to wait for now," he comments, trying to crane his head and follow by the few items tall enough to break through the tops of the grass.

"Entirely possible," remarks Farland to Jinks.

"..but we should talk about what happened. Tell me what you think about what we saw."

He wants your opinions, it seems.

"I'm trying not to," Lysos says to Farland, being brutally honest. "That was terrifying."

Edinaz frowns. "Dragon-riders fighting demons. That's... what was that fallen place called? Dragonier? Were they from another time when they were still alive?"

"What little we saw..?" Jinks wonders, taking a deep breath and issuing a sigh. "A boy sitting on the floor at meditation. He seemed familiar but I couldn't place him." He's trying to think back; after the battle with the fiends it seems like the scrying attempt happened months ago. "Then darkness through the image... and your mirror shattered. Then a malicious presence trying to pull itself through time."

The gnome produces his flask, unscrewing the cap and having a long drink. "... if it's another child of prophecy he might find all the rooms in Alexandria occupied."

"I do not get the good glimpse of the livery. I have hear of the riders on dragons, but do not know their history. Also too, I have meet many fiends and demonios, but know only the little things of why they act." Paenitia says, turning her blood streaked mask towards Farland.

"This was the demon war we witness, from the five hundred years ago? The hand of the titan, that is a god? The dead Animums, the dark one?"

She nods towards Edinaz, "The thing that first come through, I have see before, a time crawler. The last time, it seek to kill those that create the time loop. We survive it, by point it at the one that have. This time, I have the doubts who that is. It is us?"

Jinks' statement jogs her memory, "Ah! Maybe he the source. The familiar yet strange, I have that sense too when I see him."

"-- he said something," Jinks adds, snapping his fingers. "'You have to save her!' Over-and-over before the thing tore out through his eyes."

The Spider Knight is quiet at that, trying to parse her thoughts, perhaps. Behind the visor, her eyes flit from person to person, to follow the words of the others, and stitch the concept into whatever tapestry her own, limited observations could produce.

"Perhaps.... 'Her' being in danger opened Animus to what felled him. Perhaps a seed planted during that war?"

"It's history," remarks Farland, "The fabric of time is uneven here and broken. The Demon Wars did it first. Did you know we're not even sure how long they lasted?"

Farland looks up for a moment, "People say it was a hundred years -- but there's disagreement. Some say they lasted a hundred, sure, but others say two hundred. Three hundred. WE don't actually know, and the records don't agree with each other."

Lysos rubs her head, "Opinions are like onions, I don't share mine. I'm gonna ride quietly here at the back."

Edinaz pauses for a moment. "Does it actually matter, if the worlds are getting tangled here?" He frowns. "It seems like things are not smooth. They were here, so it mattered to us, fighting demons."

The Red Knight sits on her Crimson Steed, hands on the reins, shield still at the ready even if her lance is put away. "I have the thought. It only matter if there the thing we can change."

"If we act, and that make it only the hundred years. Or we find the thing that is not lost in the hundred year battle, but is in the three hundred year one."

Her head turns, her mask is facing Farland again, "In Veyshan, we see objects shift, base on others being stolen in the past, or the history changing. Is there they helm that protect your mind, you can know of a thing that is lost, or needed?"

She faces her comrades next, "She we have to save, is there the way to know? Or the one who have his eyes rip out... this the change, or there is the blind seer who is familiar to us?"

"The only way to know, from what you told me about that, is if you're already ...out of sync with it. You were. Not so much here," says Farland, in thought. "But perhaps there's a road we can walk down to get a better look. And we need to find out who this is. Now we know that this stretched into the past."

He rubs his head for a moment and then sighs, "We need more information, but these are dangerous waters as some of you well know. I don't know that we changed anything. Time is ... shattered here. I wonder if the difficulties we're encountering tie into the demon wars altogether?" He muses.

Edinaz pauses. "How?" He closes his eyes. "Wars across time and space is... a lot to fathom."

"HA! That is the good question for the student of history, but you bring the warriors and the cavaliers. I know the horse grooming, not the twists of the past three lifetimes before I am born." Paenitia laughs, leaning forward, "I know the care of birds too."

'Ruaaah!' Ramirez makes noise. His mistress is speaking about him.

The Red Knight turns towards the gnome, "Have you hear the tales in the inns that relate to this?" She shrugs, addressing Farland, "Point the way, I will fly it. Even into the library, but I am lost here. Av-de, you have the thoughts? Is there the faring folk here, is that why you make the joke?"

<OOC> Jinks says, "Arcana 37, Dungeoneering 37, Geography 36, History 37, Local 37, Nature 36, Nobility 36, Religion 36, or the Planes 36."
<OOC> Jinks says, "Loremaster can give me a 20 on any one of those. So whichever you think is appropriate, that's the result."

Jinks concentrates as the debate rages, his gaze pulling back and his onyx-black eyes going milky. He squints in thought, his butterfly kiss-piercings flashing when they catch the sun. Half-seen, transparent figures from a plethora of eras gather round to confer for a blink before stepping back into history. The gnome frowns: too many voices.

"Well..." he sighs as his eyes clear but his right-eye won't quite un-squint. He has a headache.

"Just what we know: the Vast might not have been created directly by the Demon Wars but it certainly didn't exist beforehand. Or, more-correctly: there are no records of the Vast beforehand. The Sea of Sundered Time and the Vast are a chicken-and-the-egg problem." He grunts, sniffs, and thumbs away a but of blood.

"Skald's Duke was killed by the last Millenial emperor wielding the Holy Sword of Ea who'd appeared out of nowhere, the world was renewed, and the demons were banished-- but none of this is linear. There's no one, two, three, and so on..."

Jinks pauses to take a deep breath. He holds it for awhile. He might be done? But then someone goes to talk and then he speaks up. Rude. "Animus didn't just die in our lifetimes. He's been dead since before we were born. He's ceased to be in many eras..."

"... and the Void is like a hungry moth in a closet with your finest Veyshanti silks. Just gnawing away while we're not paying attention. The vision was interrupted by an agent of a Void; the thing that crawled from the meditating boy's eyes..."

Edinaz nods slowly. "That makes sense -- that a god would die across time." He just looks at Jinks. "How the hell do you hold that in your head all at once? No wonder you drink."

"It does?" Paenitia asks, tilting her head querulously, "I want the drink you are having. I think it more sense that if the God die, he is gone in all the times and never exist, like the thread you pull out of a rug."

"Unless this is us, watching the stitches undone."

She turns, looking around, looking up at where the rift once was. "So the Demon Wars make the Vast and the broken time, somehow. What the eye, what the hands that we saw? The dragon, is that the Mountain of the Void? Do you see he scale colours well? I have the blood in my eyes."

"Maugrim wishes to rule. He can not rule the Void. He does not oppose the Gods here, and as the warden of the hells, he has a few things to say about the demons running rampant in his theology."

Farland scratches his chin, looking grave as Jinks lays it all out. "We need to repair the damage done. Somehow. Not even raising Animus may be enough, if we can do it at all. We're going to need to consult with Navosians, and more. I need to tell Griva about all of this."

Av-de is just looking sick to his stomach.

"All right!" Paenitia draws her lance and holds it upright, blood spattered mask facing Farland, "Tie the rope to my lance and Ramirez and I will stitch the time back together!"

Her head tilts at the mention of Navosians, "They have been part of the problem in the past. I have seen them feed themselves to the void spiders."

A glance in Faranmidahn's direction, "they were not the very friendly spiders."

"Spiders have... quirks." Faran replies thoughtfully, lifting the visor of her helm from the tiny wry smile beneath.

She looks amongst her companions and asks, "What if there are... other versions of history? If whatever created the vast and shattered the time, set different paths of events spiraling out like shrapnel, and we're simply riding one of the pieces? 'She' could be stuck one onf of the others, couldn't she?"

"...I don't even want to think about that idea," admits Farland to Faran, putting a hand over his face.

Paenitia nods, lowering her lance to poke at the ground and part some grasses to look at more grass. Ramirez adjusts his footing, moving his back hooves and then lifting each fore-talon to flex and replace it on the ground.

"So what the plan is Farland? We sneak the way back out? We take the stone from the bag and see what happens, we seek the shard of other time to find the history that is lost?"

She sounds like she's grinning, her mask, always grins for her, "I am happy to chase the threads into history, but I do not have the magic eyes or the local knowledge." She peers at Av-de next, "One of you pick the way to go."

Edinaz looks at Farland. "Is this one of those we're-looking-by-the-lantern-for-the-keys-we-dropped-in-the-dark sorts of things?"

"...let's not take out the stone unless we absolutely have to," remarks Farland. "I'd rather us sneak to a safer place that we can teleport out of here with," he admits.

"Ok!" The Red Knight says cheerfully, "we sneak like we are the mad dogs. You all hide behind Ramirez, no one will see you because they will be looking at the giant white peacock horse!"

She pauses, examining her trusty mount, "the giant red peacock-horse."

The dark lucht laughs, "Then! No one will see Ramirez because he hide so well. We go this way."

She starts off in a direction.

GAME: Faranmidahn casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 9 DC: 14

Faranmidahn hmmm's softly and sighs, "It's enough to make your head hurt, for certain." she concedes. With the talk of the stone, she brings her hand up, flexing her fingers through her invocative gestures as she begins to chant, "Magic forces, sweeping earth to sky, reveal your flow to my focused eye." <halfling>

Her eyes glowing with a pink luminescence, the eldritch knight scans about to see if anything is skulking about that they otherwise may not be aware of.

There's lots of magic to see, but it doesn't make any sense.

The group moves on.

It takes time, yes, but with Av-De and Farland you're able to eventually scout out a path. Carefully stretching across the Vast, you're soon able to get closer to your starting point. Just need to get back home, right? The airship that brought you here is waiting, and it would be rude just to teleport, no matter how much Farland wants to. Still, with Av-de's help, you're eventually able to board it.

The first thing you're asked is, "...did anyone else see some dwagons in the sky?"

...you've got some explaining to do.

Av-de, Centaur on Horse
https://i.imgur.com/fDTkL0n.png