V́̕͠i̡sį̵̸t̡̡͢ǫ͝r (A)

[Kodos]

CAMPAIGN A ARCHIVE 1 (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7DMD6D9F)
CAMPAIGN A ARCHIVE 2 (http://mangatutorials.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=26)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMkoycVdB_U
Y̨̕w͡҉a͜͞q̛ m̷̛̀aq̢́ ó͝o͠u͘;̕͘͠ ̴͠y͡w̷ą̀q̵͟ ͡m̛͘a͟q̵̨͡ ̛ssa̶̧g͟g̵͢ḩ̶.̶́ Ỳw̨҉a̶̴q͡ ͟҉m͏a̶ ̡̕s̡h̀͡͞g̀͞'̷̕f́͟h̴̨n͝.̸
̧G̸͝ul'̸̢ķa̸̶͟f̀͜h̛͢ ̧͘a͡ń̢͡'̷̀s͢h̵e̸͜l̕; ̀́y̡͘ǫq̶̶'a͢l ͡s̷̕͘h͞n͝ ͟͢k͞͠y͘͞͠ ͢yw̢̡̧a̴͢q̢ ǹu͜ú͜͡l.͏
̛͜G̷̢u͜͏l̡'͝k͝a͝͠͏f̷̧́h̀́ a҉̸n'͏̀͠qov ̢A̴̶k̷̸uf̶i̷h.

[Regantor]

Handing Emi to Mathias with a hugely disgruntled shrug, Veldan desided that she'd better intervene before the boisterous little Chitine managed to get herself killed. As much as the musclegirl hated to admit it, that was pretty much her job summed up.

"Alright then, come here you moldy freak..." She spoke into the black, side-stepping to use the natural cover of the wall, then smashing in the face of the zombie that moved to intercept her.

Melee attack;
1d20+9=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2826553/)
Melee damage;
1d4+4=8 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2826571/)

((The zombie has 19 HP remaining.))

It didn't quite die, despite now having the upper half of it's face looking in the other direction. What really disturbed Veldan was how normal this was becoming, through.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3278/2h6dkyb.jpg

[Kodos]

Just a reminder of the initiative order. I arbitrarily bumped up Veldan to go right after Ulow since Reg is now rollplaying both of them until Windy returns. Also, Reg, just noticed. Silly Reg, you can't do critical damage on Undead! :D
INITIATIVE
Makoto - 23
Saiza - 20
The Butcher - 19
Ulow
Veldan
Mathias

[Duskyduck]

Mathias attempts to recall information (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838193/) regarding Morghs.

To quickly take control of the room, he produced a small candle and ushered words of power...casting Summon Monster IV and producing 3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838069/) Celestial Bisons in the room.

They act immediately, tackling the nearest zombies...
The first one hits (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838226/), goring the zombie next to hit, doing 6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838244/)damage.
The second bison strikes (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838245/) the zombie pushing it against the wall for 7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838246/) damage...again failing to do significant damage.
The third bison tackles (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838247/) the zombie north of it a little harder for 8 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2838248/) damage, but the undead still stands....


http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9120/2h6dkybcopy.th.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/2h6dkybcopy.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Kodos]

Mathias recognizes that the thing he's fighting is a Mohrg, a type of corporeal Undead born from the corpses of unrepetant mass murderers or similar villains who died without atoning for their crimes. They are cunning, intelligent, and stealthy killers with long, prehensile, jaws tongues capable of paralyzing victims with a bite. Those slain by a Mohrg rise as Zombies within a few days of being slain.
Lovely.

[Shozag]

Makoto groaned.
This was turning into another fine mess.

She dashed through the open door where all the fighting was going on, taking note of the rather large bison engaging the zombies. The second bison seemed to be in the best position to use help from the scantily clad warrior, so she drew her weapon and struck at the zombie.
Attack and Damage
1d20+6=15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2841342/)
1d6+1=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2841364/)


http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2581/bisonsssmannnn.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/bisonsssmannnn.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Alexander_Hamilton]

For a moment, Saiza stared blankly at the large bovines trampling zombies. After a moment, he recoveredhimself and rushed in after Makoto. If he had this protection spell on him, he'd might as well put it to good use.

Attack & Damage
1d20+11=13, 1d6-1=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2853962/)

Zombies health is 9

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/379/mapuz.jpg

[Kodos]

The Morhg was still hiding, giving no sign of its presence.

***

The three zombies in range of the Celestial Bisons all attempted to hit them. Two of their attacks completely missed, while the third's attack just glanced off the magical beast's hide.
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/379/mapuz.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/mapuz.jpg/)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2968229/
I didn't bother rolling damage for the one that hit because due to the DR it would be, at most, 1 damage. I see no point in adding another thing to keep track of.

[Regantor]

"...Gwer... Horny fat glowy horn horses?" Ulow hadn't seen a bull yet, and thus just assumed that Mathias' new helpers were entirely rediculous not-earthly thingy-ma-jigs. Similar to standard surface animals, through, the look on her face suggessed she was more terrified of them than she was of the walking skeletons. "Why'd you have to do thad, Madhias... They're horrible..."

Standing and keeping an eye on peoples' backs, she had lost her appitite for going into the room now, it seemed...

Total defence (+4AC)

///////////////////////////////////////

Veldan was rather too busy to talk, instead just swinging at the same Zombies' head again, in an effort to make it more dead...

Attack Roll
1d20+9=11 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2969960/)

...but completely missing due to the surprise giant magic bovine intervention, regardless.

[Duskyduck]

Mathias feels that he had already expended his share of spellpower - for now. Until the real threat shows itself, he decided to simply stand by and try to scan for the Morgh.


Spot Check:1d20+2=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979641/)


All of the summoned bisons pressed on their attacks, fierce tackling the zombies to the best of their abilities. The first bison gored the zombie next to Veldan. The second turned to assist Makoto in taking down the zombie next to her, and the third drove it's horn against the zombie adjacent to the second - unfortunately, not connecting.


1st Bison Attack:1d20+8=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979643/)
Damage:5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979646/)
2nd Bison Attack:1d20+8=22 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979651/)
Damage:7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979655/)
3rd Bison Attack:1d20+8=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2979653/)

[Kodos]

YOU ARE ALL HORRIBLE AND CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS.

And so after what seemed like an eternity, you managed to destroy the Zombies and the Mohrg (who mostly went after Makoto) and collect the key. Yaaaay.

The rest of you decided to rest so Mathias could regain his spells. Maybe it was the presence of so much Negative Energy, or maybe it was some Other thing, but for some reason you all did feel a bit tired here, especially Saiza. Couldn't hurt to nap for bit, right?

Ulow stood guard. Hopefully she wouldn't wander off and/or eat Emi.

***

Mathias dreams.

Dreams?

Remembers?

It is Brookhaven. It is 6 years ago. Pierre Vacher, a local priest of St. Cuthbert and - secretly of course - former Hierarch of the Brookhaven Horned Society, has just been found guilty of the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Sabina, Claudia's parents.

This is one crime he did not commit.

It is the Brookhaven prison. Claudia is visiting the man who is held responsible for her parents murder. She is visibly distraught, weeping heavily, as two guards escort her to a holding cell so she could meet with Vacher. They leaver her alone with the prisoner, who is safely bound in chains and on the other side of a barred cell.

As soon as the guards leave, Claudia's tears stop. She always was quite the actress.

"Claudia - you have to understand! It wasn't - It wasn't me! It was the Dominus! He did this! He killed them! He wanted - he wants - my position! I'm the Hie-"

"Oh, shove it, Pierre. Giovanni - and yes, Pierre, I know all of you - didn't kill my parents. On a related note" she was beaming, "I'm in the inner cabal now, Pierre. Seems He found my offerings more than acceptable and Giovanni - the new Hierarch - was more than happy to have me aboard."

"You me-"

"For fuck's sake, yes you idiot. He got your old job, Raphael got his old job, and I got Raphael's." She turned to face him, and shrugged, smiling slightly as a wave of realization washed across the former Hierarch's face. "If it's any consolation, I'll have Raphael's, then Giovanni's, jobs too, soon enough." She laughed. "Why do you think I helped Giovanni? He's an idiot, just like you, and - as He would have it - Raphael, besides being another moron, has a thing for redheads and big breasts." Claudia gave Pierre a flirty smile while winking and tossing her hair back.

"You won't be able to kill me and get away with it. They'll find out. There will be an investigation an-"

"No, Pierre, no there will not be. Giovanni had nothing to do with what happened to my dearly departed parents. I already told you this. He's almost as much of an idiot as you. I framed you for that, and I'll get this pinned on you too, darling. After all, a fanatic like you would prefer death to imprisonment." A laugh. "All Giovanni did before was help during the trial, what with his position as our fair and just chief judge." Claudia snickered at the irony. "And don't pretend like you suddenly forgot how many people we have working for Brahm here. No one will know but us in the society, and no one else will care, anyway. You're a dangerous fanatic who murdered two people of great wealth and character. I don't think you will be missed, Pierre."

She rose from her seat, producing a key from within her cleavage and a small but extremely sharp dagger from one of her stockings.

"This is the way of things, Pierre, and you should know this. The strong thrive and the weak are trampled underfoot. I won, you lost. All is as it should be. All is as He has willed."

"His will be done."

*

It is some time later. Claudia is in a torture chamber of some sort within the Asmodean Temple near Brookhaven. There is a man strapped to a table, and a large array of torture implements.

Mathias can smell the blood in the air.

"Why did you leave?"

"I... I wanted to be with my fami-"

Casually and still smiling Claudia dips the man's left hand in the jar of acid producing a horrible scream. She holds his hand there for a few moments before pulling it out.

"You had us, James. You had Him. You did not need a family." Claudia leans over towards him with deliberate and mocking sultriness. "Was it love, James? Did you love her? Is that why you left us for some woman and then proceeded to add insult to injury by getting the whore knocked up?"

He says nothing. Claudia gives an exaggerated frown before suddenly grabbing an extremely sharp cleaver from the table nearby and bringing it down hard and fast on his left hand, severing the appendage. As he screams in pain Claudia continues to speak to him, talking loudly over his cries.

"I asked you a question, James. Did you love her?"

"YES!"

"That is unfortunate, James, most unfortunate. Do you know what love is, James? It is a sin worse than weakness; it is weakness that proclaims itself loud and clearly. It is to shout aloud 'I am weak and unable to manage on my own!' You are a parasite, James. A parasite. There are, in this world, James, predators and prey, and do you want to take a guess as to which category parasites like you fall into?" Another smile. "I bet you loved your little brat, too."

"W-w-what did you do with them?"

"The smart predator, James, learns from their prey. I once dated a butcher. I've been with several alchemists. I've learned how to handle knives, James, and I've learned how to be very precise."

"I don't-"

"You'd be surprised how long a person can live without their skin." Claudia gave him a smile as a look of horror washed across his face. "You'd also be surprised what we fed you last." She frowns as he begins to cry hysterically.

"Crying really isn't very manly, James. You can try and have some dignity about all of this." She said plainly, hiding well the laughter in her voice.

Claudia took a seat on a stool besides the large table the man was strapped down to. She removed his unmarred right from the bindings and gently rubbed it once across her face and cleavage before speaking, pausing now and again to kiss or suck on one of his fingers.

"Most torturers have a habit of going straight for the genitals or face, James. That's silly. I'll get to those," she said with a laugh, "don't worry, but that's no place to start."

"Our hands," she explained, "are enormously important. Such sensation in them! And they are, after all, one fifth of how we experience the world, and the greater part of how we interact with it." Another smile.

Claudia reached for the thumbscrews on the table besides her.

***

Makoto sees Kusanagi-to. It is roughly 3345 years ago. A great plague is sweeping across the city. In the more densely populated areas, the streets are literally flooded with corpses - some of which haven't stopped moving yet.
The Emperor, Narihito, himself has fallen victim to his plague. He is nearly constantly surrounded by his attendants, physicians, and consorts. This Makoto sees.

His favored consort stands out immediately to Makoto. Sogi Shiranui. She's an ancestor of Rin's, apparently, but Makoto would think it was her, if she didn't know any better. Or her twin. But not some distant ancestor from a few thousand years ago. She even radiates the same aura of irresistable sexuality, beauty, and effortless grace that Rin does.

But also something darker. More predatory.
Her, dress, too, is far more ostentatious than Rin's. Much more showy and flashy. She clearly enjoys the material benefits of her favored status.

*

In the palace harems, surrounded by several other consorts (most of whome are also Shiranui clan, judging by their golden eyes and Rin-esque physiques), Sogi is confronted by Yasuchika, one of Narihito's court Onmyoji.

"I know what you are, witch." He states simply, almost without malice.

"Oh?" She smiles.

"Yes. I'm giving you your first and last option to end this peacefully. Leave this city - this country - and never return. I don't care if you go bother some other nation, or go back to whatever Abyssal pit you crawled out of, but you will leave this nation and you will take your she-demons and your plague with you."

"Yasuchika, dear," she purrs, "I have no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps you are ill? I understand mild delirium is not an uncommon symptom of the plague. Should you really be out and about? Why, you risk contaminting myself and these other fine ladies!"

"Play coy all you want, Demon, you had your chance." He states simply before leaving.

After a few moments have passed, one of the other Shiranui women turns to Sogi. "Shall I kill him?"

"No." Sogi smiles. "He has a wife and small child."

The other woman is already on her way out when Sogi calls out to her.

"Be creative." She laughs.

***

Veldan sees St. Melinde.

It is before Therion's plan involving his towers was put into motion.

The party had already been assembled and traveling together for some time though. Long enough that Melinde and Yumi have already become lovers.

This Veldan knows.
Remembers?

The party had been fighting an Abyssal Cult and had tracked them to the abandoned castle that was their headquarters. Yumi had went on ahead into the castle to infiltrate it and report back.

Except she got captured.

"We'll kill her! We'll kill your exotic little harl-"
"No you won't." Melinde says simply and without a hint of fear or anger.
"Wh-what?" The cultist is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a bit confused.
"You won't kill her. If you kill her, you will have no leverage left. If she dies I will suffer, and I will suffer terribly, but in time I will come to understand and to accept that her soul is safe. And you and your associates will all die. I will see to it that those who killed my beloved are brought to account. Not vengeance, but justice. I will find out who they are, I will track them down, and I will see them pay for their crimes.
Nothing will stop me. Not oceans or deserts, not storms or wildfires. No matter what stones they may hide under, or holes they may crawl into, the light of my righteous cause will fall upon them and they will be found and they will be punished. I will fill my heart not with fury or rage, but with steadfast determination and unyielding tenacity. My faith in the Archpaladin will nourish and sustain me, and he will ensure that my purpose remains pure." Melinde gave a little smile, leaning in now on one knee. "So do you still wish to try my patience, or will you cooperate?"

*

It is later. The party is relaxing at a tavern, their heroism for the day behind them.

"Faggot."

"Gods dammit, Grignr, I'm not a faggot!" Is Ischaldir's response, taking the troll-bait.

"Nay, lad, I'm pretty sure ye are."

"You never call Melinde a faggot!"

"Aye. The lovely lass is a homosexual. Ye're a faggot. S'different."

Grignr's teasing is cut short when Melinde calmly walks over and proceeds to punch him hard in the shoulder. "Quit teasing Ischaldir, you." She says calmly before sitting back down and returning to her drink.

PALADINS, FUCK YEAH.

Something in Ischaldir, dark and ancient, laughs at the Elf.
And Veldan knows it.
It is not unique to Ischaldir.
It is ancient and sick, terrible and alien.

The Truth (http://i.imgur.com/ZfvJO.jpg) will make you free. It purrs.

It lies.

***

Saiza was falling. (http://tindeck.com/listen/cwgc)

Saiza was falling through time and space, through darkness and through memories.

And he was, as always, alone.

Not alone.
Not alone. As always.

Never alone.

Always alone - but never alone.

It was with him. Always.

It was was with him.
It was watching him.
It could see him.
Always.

But he could never seem It.
Never.
Could not look at It.
Would not look at Them.

Never could look at the Truth. (http://i.imgur.com/9bV2z.jpg)

Never never never never never.

Gods no.

Nononononononono.
No.

It sees him.

*

Saiza is no longer falling. (http://tindeck.com/listen/nikb)

He is sitting down. In a chair.
There is a table in front of him. With a setting.
It is tea time.

Sitting across from him is a woman. (http://i.imgur.com/pa9t2.jpg) She is like an Elf, but paler, her skin a pure white, and taller, at least six feet.

He is dreaming. He knows this. Nothing has ever felt so surreal, so dreamlike.
He is not dreaming.
He is dreaming?

"Oh, hello Saiza." Her voice was soft, somewhat monotone, and with odd stresses. "You're just in time for tea."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza did not respond at first, shifting in his seat and trying to regain anything resembling his bearings. Experiencing the abyss was still traumatic, though he was getting better coping with it. It was depressing that confronting cosmic monstrosities in a dream-space was becoming commonplace enough as to not surprise him.

So. He was dreaming, and drinking tea with some kind of tall, elf-like woman who was probably neither an elf or a woman. Saiza took a deep breath.

“Haven’t had tea in a while. Sounds nice.” He poked a teacup, half expecting it to disintegrate into nothingness. “Mind telling me who you are?”

[Kodos]

The teacup, like everything else, felt completely and totally fake and dream-like.
Yourenotdreamingnotdreamingnotnotnotdreamingnotdre amingatall

It even smelled fake.
areyousosurethatthisisthedreamandoutthereisthereal ityhowcouldyoutell

The Elf-thing laughed, her bearing regal but her voice somehow hollow and odd. It was sing-song and dead-inside at all once.

"You show up to tea and don't even know who I am? Where are your manners, Saiza?" She laughed. "I'm the White Queen, of course. You probably just forgot." She smiled. "It's easy to forget."

"Or am I the Red Queen?" She mused, apparently genuinely confused. "I could be the Red Queen, now that I think of it. Am I the Red Queen? No. Yes? No."

"Of course you know to watch out for the Red Queen. One cannot trust her."

She paused for a moment and tilted her head to the side, apparently in thought. "Well, I mean, you can trust her. It just wouldn't be a very advisable course of action. Trusting the Red Queen, that is."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"You're a strange woman." Talk about an understatement. "Who are you, really, and why are you here?"

[Kodos]

She responded before he even opened his mouth to speak, answering his questions before he asked them.

"We just went over who I am, silly. Do try and keep up, dear." She laughed. "And this is my house. I live here. Why are you here?"

[Alexander_Hamilton]

All right. She could read his mind. Or see the future? This seemed to be a kind of dream, so who knew what rules of reality applied? "That's a good question. You're more likely to know the answer than I am." Whatever this woman, if it could be called a woman, was, she seemed like she might be cooperative, if only due to her strangeness. "Where are we, really?"

[Kodos]

"We're here, silly! My but you're a bit daft, aren't you?" She laughed, apparently back in sync or something, as she didn't respond until after he'd spoken this time.

"And you're here because you're not in other places. Or are you in other places? The Many-Angled Ones have been getting frisky lately. They tend to around this time, of course. The Veil is lifting, as I'm sure you've noticed." She smiled, drinking some of her tea.

"All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again." She shrugged. "So it goes."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza barely repressed a groan of frustration. He wondered if h should have been scared instead of annoyed. In any case, it was better for his sanity to be the latter.

"So, uh..this Veil. What will happen when it lifts? Who are these guys with many angles or whatever?"

[Kodos]

Once again, she was answering his questions before he asked them.

"What a silly question." She muses. "The same thing that happened the last|next time the Veil lifts|ed." The conflicting words came out at the exact same time. "The same thing that always happens when the Veil lifts and the stars are right. The Inevitable."

"All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. So it goes."

"The Many-Angled Ones? What about them? Why do you bring them up?"

A fish flew out of Saiza's ear, into the air, burst into a mass of tentacles, and then exploded in a burst of multicolored light. The White and/or Red Queen did not react, still drinking her tea and smiling blankly.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Her information was frustratingly useless, in addition to being given before he had requested it, but Saiza was too preoccupied with frantically feeling at his ear to be irritated.

He paused, collected himself, trying to construct like logical thought in the bizarre atmosphere. "O...kay. Listen, I don't know anything about what's going on. At all. This seems to be some kind of crazy dream hallucination, but I'd appreciate it if you could actually explain something, because you do seem to know things. I don't know anything about the Veil, or what it does or what happened when it lifted before. Give a guy a break. What's the Inevitable? It's sounding pretty apocalyptic."

[Kodos]

She was still responding to things he hadn't said yet.

"Dream? Hallucination? Oh, no, no, no. Out there is the dream. This is reality." She smiled.

"Real as it gets." She added grimly, before pausing, apparently confused again.

"Or maybe it's the other way around? It's easy to forget." She gave a shrug. "And the Veil is the Veil, silly." She smiled.

"Oh, hello Saiza." Her voice was soft, somewhat monotone, and with odd stresses. "You're just in time for tea."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"All right. I'm done." Saiza stood up carefully. After the ear-fish, he had become almost too aware of his body. If he made another sudden movement, who knew what orfices fishes would be popping from next?

"Er...Thanks for the tea, Miss....Red Queen. White Queen. Queen."

He looked around for a place to head off to.

[Kodos]

"You can't trust the Red Queen!" She warned again.

"Oh!" She remarked as Saiza got up. "He|They|It sees you. Goodbye Saiza! Maybe you can come for tea again!"

And then Saiza was falling again.

Falling in an(his?) endless black abyss.
So cold. So dark.
No sound.
No sight.

No sense of anything.

Not even himself.

*

Asul is burning. (http://tindeck.com/listen/oqke)

Gods and Mortals, Devils and Demons, all are desperately fighting. They are not fighting off an invasion, they are fighting a revolution.

They are fighting the rulers (http://i.imgur.com/TyvRg.jpg) of Asul.

*

Saiza sees Devils and Demons fighting side by side. Mortals fighting alongside strange metallic men (http://i.imgur.com/y6NJz.jpg), Golems scores of feet tall, strange ships which sailed through the skies (http://i.imgur.com/5jqTm.jpg), and even the Gods themselves.

Against the Illithids (http://i.imgur.com/Z5xbj.jpg) and their creations.

Tentacles hundreds of feet tall rend the sky.

The Gods are dying.

Asul is burning.

*

The Multiverse is burning.

As the war to liberate the Material Planes rages on (In Visek (http://i.imgur.com/219Ty.jpg) the sky was shattered, the Veil partially lifted, and incarnations of the Elder Gods loosed. (http://i.imgur.com/Ckn9k.jpg) Saiza doesn't know what any of that means, but he knows it happened.) so too does the war ragein other fronts.

In their blasphemy, the Illithids have even turned to the Outer Planes for fresh conquests.

The Blood War put on hold.

When Asmodeus set foot in Arcadia, he did so not as a conqueror, but as a liberator.

The Multiverse is burning.
The Gods are dying.

This is the way the world ended.

Almost.

*

I̡̠̦̣̼͓͕̦͆͗͌͛ͣ̚͢͞|̡̢͉̮͕̙͖̦̍ͤͨͩͫ͗́̕͠ͅH̶̨̬͖͗͒̃ͫ̍̏͛͊͝ ̦Ę̳̳̖̘̱͇͇̱̟̣̥̣̗͕̗͕̜̌̃͗ͤ̎̓̇͛͌̇̈ͅ|̢͉̹ͭ̅̽̄̈ͨͭ̍ͪ̀̚͞͞͠ ̲̺̹̭̙̙̜̼W̴̛̦͇̗̹̺̞̘̠͔̰̻͕̔̋ͣ̅ͫ̆ͥ̓͆͋͌̋̃̀̚̕͞E͛͒ͩ́ͩ͌͋̐ͥ ̸̶̰͕̱̰͕̳̣͈͉͎ ͫ̃̚͏҉̸̡͔̳̦̭̻̹͖̼̞̼̬͠S̩̝̼̝̹͕̞͖̼̞̔͛̃͛͗̇̀͘Ȩ̛̍̐͌͛͌ͩ̾̀͜ ͔̹̺̹̻͖̩̠͙̱̜̺̫͇̻̥ͅȄ̸̛̜̩͎̼̖̼̄̒̀ͩ̏͘͜ͅ ̡̭̘͕̰̘͍̺̙̀̒̐̽̃͑̆ͫ̎͞Y̧͍̪̣̝̟̘̭̮̙̞̼̟͔͈̼ͩͪ́ͦ͆̊͑͒̓ͫ͐̀̚O ̢̞̫̤̙͇̖̫̦͔̤̙͎͎̺̜̰̯̟͙̓ͩͬ̓̀̚͟͟͝U̗͉̥̖͉̤̳̟̻̫͖̔ͨ͐ͩ̆́̕͠͞ ̗̖̲̥̪͍ ̵̼̯̘͔͇̭̹̫͓͉̖̩͓͉̟͇͑̋ͮͣͭ̎ͪͥ͊ͫ̃̀̀̂̎͟S̵ͭ͆ͦ̂͐ͧ̈́̓̆͂̂͘҉̥͠ ̗̲̲̦̺̣͇̗ͅA̡ͨ̓ͫͬ̾̎̔̈́ͭͬͥ̌̃ͨ̋͞͏̬̗͔̼͙̫̻͈͙̗̝͔Į̑̀̊̂ͮͯͫ͡ ͖͓̥̖͙̥͍Z̶̸̙͓̺̞̐̿͌͐̌ͥͭͯͮ̋ͫ̈́̽͂͊͋̆̆Ą̵ͨ̿̈̑̅ͥ̍ͣ̿ͩ̉ͣ̿́͢ ̟̝̲̼̱̰.͔̞̰͚̟̒ͪͪ̍́́

*
Saiza is no longer falling. (http://tindeck.com/listen/efrx)

He is in an endless, featureless, white void.

Before him is a large monolith, about 10 feet tall, and 6 feet wide.
It looks like a hole in forever.

Sitting in front of it on either end are two beings. Both are small and childlike with apparently humanoid bodies.

One has featureless and perfectly black skin with what can only be called a vaguely luminescent green outline. He is wearing a golden crown and a strange white mask with three large holes in it - two for the eyes, one for the mouth. The holes are perfectly round and seem to go forever, an endless black abyss.

One has perfectly white skin with what can only be called a vaguely luminescent green outline. His skin is covered in cracks that seem to be oozing a black mist or vapor. He is wearing a gnarled and horrifying mask of an Illithid.



Y̵̢̌͐ͬͭͪͩw̸̷̢̿̈̋ͮ̽̔ͦ̉ͣ̓͑̊̑͌͡a̔́̊ͧ̓ͭ̊̐̚͏̷̶̧̡q̑ͦ̉̑̆̑ ̵̷̑̒ͧ̐ͩ̆ ̴̶ͧ̃͊̓ͩ͗ͮ̆̌̾͑͂ͤ̒̀ͦ̋̚̚m̷̵͒̎͐̅̎̚͘͢a͒͗̀͊̀͝͡q̒̓̾̓̀ͥ͋ͥ̍ ̴ͥͭͤ̀͐̌ͩ͠͡ ̶̾ͫ̎͐̿̇̾̋ͯ̓͋͑̈̆͂̂́͞o͒̓͑̒ͯ̽̒̏̄ͬͩ̊ͮ͌̇́̚͞͏óͨ̂̂ͥ̏̀ͬ̾͐ ̨̈́ͫ̽́ͮ̕͠͠u̵̧ͬ͂͛ͩ͆ͣ̉ͭ;̶̡̃̆̑͗ͭ͂̾ͮ͒̆̓̾ͩ̚ ̿ͩͭ̌̑͊ͮ̒̋ͥ͑҉̀y̧ͫͯͦ͋ͧ̇͗ͫ͐̌̎̌̅ͣ̌̆͗̔͗w̵̐ͧ͛̔̃̏͛҉͞ăͤ̈́̎ ̶̴̢̒́̕q̶̢̛ͮ̏͊̑͒̋̄ͨ͛̋̅ͤ̅ͧ̅ͪ͗́͜͞ ̶̑ͪ̈̋̊ͩͩ̅̉͐̓̎ͦͬͭ̊̊ͤ́̚͞m͌̌͐̊͝҉̢͟â̾ͬ̂̇͊̋̿ͨͮ͂͒́̓ͮ̑̈́͋ ̶̕͏̷̀q̧ͤ̆ͥ̾̍̽ͫ̇̓͑̾̅̈̍͗͌ͧ̊͑́͟͝ ̶̧̢ͤͦͭͥ̽̿ͣ͌̅͊͂̂̀s̊̎̏̓͂ͥ̾̾̽ͤ̃͛͘̕s̈́ͪ̏ͣ̚͏̵̡a̴ͬ̈́ͬͬ̽͒͝͠ ͏̀g̸̨̎̍ͧ͆̒͑̑ͭ̓̈́ͤ͂̎͠ģ̨̒͊̊̈́̂̈͑̍ͨ͏̛͢hͮ̉͋́͗ͪͭ͌̾ͥ̒̑̔ͣ͊ ̷̸̔͛̈́̏͠͡҉.̴̶̋̊ͨ͐̑ͧͮ̎̓͌͐͂ͪ̚̕͟ ̷̵̧ͮ̔͊̀͌͆ͩ̅̾̄̑ͦ͒͝Y͋̐ͦ̍̏ͤ̅̏ͤ̚͏͢w̸̢ͭ͌̐͐̀̐ͦ̆̑ͣ͆̔̈́̏̚͠ a̶̸̷̛ͣ̔̇ͮͮ̑̓̅ͨͪ̂͟q̾͒͗ͭͩ͋̌̀̍ͥ͊̎ͮ̓ͩ̐҉̛ ̵̡͐ͤ̽ͪ͋̀͞͞m̴̴̡͂ͭ̊̄ͭ̒̃͢͞a̡̽ͣ̎̈̈ͫͣͬ̀͒̐̚͜ ͥ̌ͨͬ̈́̈̒̿͆҉̴s̨ͮͥ͒ͣ̎̐̓̈ͪͮͬ́̕͞h̸̶̍ͧ̎̄ͤͯ͋ͥ͗̑̉̑ͩ́g̔ͧ̉̋̊ ̴̴̉̿̐'̸̉̌ͥͣ̕f̷̛̎͐̒͂̅̈́ͬ͌ͨ̀̕͟ḩ̸̧̃̾̇ͩ͘͟nͭ̇̀͆͋̾̇ͨ̎̑̈̋ ̴̴̨͑̉̈́͘.̧̈́̉͋̎̆͆́ͨͯ̓̎̓ͥ̐́̚̕͘͟
̶͑̽̀̅͗̈́̌ͩͬ͑̒̓͒̎H̨a̵̷̴͘s͜͟t̸̨̀͞ù̴̶r҉ ̵̸́ḿ͠à̸̸҉ ̸̨͘͝p̢̢͞h̷͜͟g͡w̵҉̷͏a̸̢̕͜'̧͢͞͡͝c̨͜͞u͢͠l͏́͠ ̶h̵̕ǹ̵a҉́͘k̡f̴̢̢̛̕.̸̷̕
̷̢͏N͝y̷̧̛̕͞a͘̕ŕ̡͝ļ̛͟͢a̧̛͠t̸̴̷͟͢h̴̨͝ò̶t̡͘҉è̵̛p̨ ̨͟͠ ̸҉̵̢p̴͞͏ù̸̕͜ú̀͜ĺ̷́͞ ̵͘͟s̷̶̛ḱ̕͘͝s̷̛͜h̡͞҉̕g҉n̢̨͟҉̀:̴̴̴͟ ͞͞o̷̧̨n̵̛͝'͟m̡͟a̵͟͟ ̨̀͢͝y̷̴̵e͘͡͝h̵̡̀͠'̀͘͏̡̕g̡̀l̷̕͞u̸͏̵ ̷̶͢͡z̴̀͜u̢̡͞q̕.̨͟͝
T̴̵̛̫͔̬̬̤̪͓̞̬̻͖̯͉̗̦͕͉̕ͅḩ̵̻̭͓͈͔͎̼̘̠̗̻͉ǫ̴̠͈͇̹̙̻̮͡ͅ ̞̟̖͇͇̙̜o̢͔̤̗͚̞͙̼͎͚͢ͅņ̭̺͖̰̗̻͓̩͕̫̥͍̱̗̮͡ͅ ̛̪͙͙͔̱̞̰͎̹̖͡w̛̙̞͎͖͇͎̻̠̖̜̣͉̱͍͢͟͝͠g̷̭̘̩̟̬̪͖̥͔̩̩̰̯̱͘͞ ḁ̠͚̻̀͘ẖ̨̟̜͇̳̩̟̣̯̯̗̦̫̞͡ͅ'̶̡̺̱̱̝̝͕͓̱̱̲̘͞n̸̢̙̥͈͞͞ͅͅ ̬̙̘͇̹̟̬̥̩̦͖a̧̜̺̹͢͜͝ͅg͜͏̶̟̫̥̜̹̩͉̠̗͇͇̝̟̠͎̀͠l̨̲͘̕ ͖͙͓͙ ̵̡̘̬̦̮͖͔f̨̜͚̝̯͇̤̼̜͚͠ḩ̶̥̻͍̣͖̬͚̲̬̱͖̙͈̥̩̞̥͢͜͜ͅt͞҉҉̫͚ ̹̖̱à̡҉͝͏̳̺͈̹͙͕͇̰͈̜̥̰̫̤͈͙̞̪͓ģ̡̧̙̩̖͟͜ͅņ̮̼̗͕̗͔̕͜͡͞ ̼̻̺̦.̶̢̻͇̜̫͈͖̲͈͟͞

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza look from the first figure to the second to the monolith, his overloaded mind trying to catch up with what he'd just experienced. He had been with the green eyed elf-like woman...then he had seen everything. A war against illithids, a place called Visek, enormous...gods? How could he address the situation before him when he was trying to process something like that?

But he didn't have much choice. The shock from the entire experience had left Saiza sprawled out on pure white. Hesitantly, he got to his feet. The things were grotesque, and he avoided looking into their faces. A swallow, and then. "Mind telling me who you are and why I'm here?"

[Kodos]

The response came from nowhere and everywhere.

From without.
From within.

Y̵̢̌͐ͬͭͪͩw̸̷̢̿̈̋ͮ̽̔ͦ̉ͣ̓͑̊̑͌͡a̔́̊ͧ̓ͭ̊̐̚͏̷̶̧̡q̑ͦ̉̑̆̑ ̵̷̑̒ͧ̐ͩ̆ ̴̶ͧ̃͊̓ͩ͗ͮ̆̌̾͑͂ͤ̒̀ͦ̋̚̚m̷̵͒̎͐̅̎̚͘͢a͒͗̀͊̀͝͡q̒̓̾̓̀ͥ͋ͥ̍ ̴ͥͭͤ̀͐̌ͩ͠͡ ̶̾ͫ̎͐̿̇̾̋ͯ̓͋͑̈̆͂̂́͞o͒̓͑̒ͯ̽̒̏̄ͬͩ̊ͮ͌̇́̚͞͏óͨ̂̂ͥ̏̀ͬ̾͐ ̨̈́ͫ̽́ͮ̕͠͠u̵̧ͬ͂͛ͩ͆ͣ̉ͭ;̶̡̃̆̑͗ͭ͂̾ͮ͒̆̓̾ͩ̚ ̿ͩͭ̌̑͊ͮ̒̋ͥ͑҉̀y̧ͫͯͦ͋ͧ̇͗ͫ͐̌̎̌̅ͣ̌̆͗̔͗w̵̐ͧ͛̔̃̏͛҉͞ăͤ̈́̎ ̶̴̢̒́̕q̶̢̛ͮ̏͊̑͒̋̄ͨ͛̋̅ͤ̅ͧ̅ͪ͗́͜͞ ̶̑ͪ̈̋̊ͩͩ̅̉͐̓̎ͦͬͭ̊̊ͤ́̚͞m͌̌͐̊͝҉̢͟â̾ͬ̂̇͊̋̿ͨͮ͂͒́̓ͮ̑̈́͋ ̶̕͏̷̀q̧ͤ̆ͥ̾̍̽ͫ̇̓͑̾̅̈̍͗͌ͧ̊͑́͟͝ ̶̧̢ͤͦͭͥ̽̿ͣ͌̅͊͂̂̀s̊̎̏̓͂ͥ̾̾̽ͤ̃͛͘̕s̈́ͪ̏ͣ̚͏̵̡a̴ͬ̈́ͬͬ̽͒͝͠ ͏̀g̸̨̎̍ͧ͆̒͑̑ͭ̓̈́ͤ͂̎͠ģ̨̒͊̊̈́̂̈͑̍ͨ͏̛͢hͮ̉͋́͗ͪͭ͌̾ͥ̒̑̔ͣ͊ ̷̸̔͛̈́̏͠͡҉.̴̶̋̊ͨ͐̑ͧͮ̎̓͌͐͂ͪ̚̕͟ ̷̵̧ͮ̔͊̀͌͆ͩ̅̾̄̑ͦ͒͝Y͋̐ͦ̍̏ͤ̅̏ͤ̚͏͢w̸̢ͭ͌̐͐̀̐ͦ̆̑ͣ͆̔̈́̏̚͠ a̶̸̷̛ͣ̔̇ͮͮ̑̓̅ͨͪ̂͟q̾͒͗ͭͩ͋̌̀̍ͥ͊̎ͮ̓ͩ̐҉̛ ̵̡͐ͤ̽ͪ͋̀͞͞m̴̴̡͂ͭ̊̄ͭ̒̃͢͞a̡̽ͣ̎̈̈ͫͣͬ̀͒̐̚͜ ͥ̌ͨͬ̈́̈̒̿͆҉̴s̨ͮͥ͒ͣ̎̐̓̈ͪͮͬ́̕͞h̸̶̍ͧ̎̄ͤͯ͋ͥ͗̑̉̑ͩ́g̔ͧ̉̋̊ ̴̴̉̿̐'̸̉̌ͥͣ̕f̷̛̎͐̒͂̅̈́ͬ͌ͨ̀̕͟ḩ̸̧̃̾̇ͩ͘͟nͭ̇̀͆͋̾̇ͨ̎̑̈̋ ̴̴̨͑̉̈́͘.̧̈́̉͋̎̆͆́ͨͯ̓̎̓ͥ̐́̚̕͘͟
̶͑̽̀̅͗̈́̌ͩͬ͑̒̓͒̎H̨a̵̷̴͘s͜͟t̸̨̀͞ù̴̶r҉ ̵̸́ḿ͠à̸̸҉ ̸̨͘͝p̢̢͞h̷͜͟g͡w̵҉̷͏a̸̢̕͜'̧͢͞͡͝c̨͜͞u͢͠l͏́͠ ̶h̵̕ǹ̵a҉́͘k̡f̴̢̢̛̕.̸̷̕
̷̢͏N͝y̷̧̛̕͞a͘̕ŕ̡͝ļ̛͟͢a̧̛͠t̸̴̷͟͢h̴̨͝ò̶t̡͘҉è̵̛p̨ ̨͟͠ ̸҉̵̢p̴͞͏ù̸̕͜ú̀͜ĺ̷́͞ ̵͘͟s̷̶̛ḱ̕͘͝s̷̛͜h̡͞҉̕g҉n̢̨͟҉̀:̴̴̴͟ ͞͞o̷̧̨n̵̛͝'͟m̡͟a̵͟͟ ̨̀͢͝y̷̴̵e͘͡͝h̵̡̀͠'̀͘͏̡̕g̡̀l̷̕͞u̸͏̵ ̷̶͢͡z̴̀͜u̢̡͞q̕.̨͟͝
T̴̵̛̫͔̬̬̤̪͓̞̬̻͖̯͉̗̦͕͉̕ͅḩ̵̻̭͓͈͔͎̼̘̠̗̻͉ǫ̴̠͈͇̹̙̻̮͡ͅ ̞̟̖͇͇̙̜o̢͔̤̗͚̞͙̼͎͚͢ͅņ̭̺͖̰̗̻͓̩͕̫̥͍̱̗̮͡ͅ ̛̪͙͙͔̱̞̰͎̹̖͡w̛̙̞͎͖͇͎̻̠̖̜̣͉̱͍͢͟͝͠g̷̭̘̩̟̬̪͖̥͔̩̩̰̯̱͘͞ ḁ̠͚̻̀͘ẖ̨̟̜͇̳̩̟̣̯̯̗̦̫̞͡ͅ'̶̡̺̱̱̝̝͕͓̱̱̲̘͞n̸̢̙̥͈͞͞ͅͅ ̬̙̘͇̹̟̬̥̩̦͖a̧̜̺̹͢͜͝ͅg͜͏̶̟̫̥̜̹̩͉̠̗͇͇̝̟̠͎̀͠l̨̲͘̕ ͖͙͓͙ ̵̡̘̬̦̮͖͔f̨̜͚̝̯͇̤̼̜͚͠ḩ̶̥̻͍̣͖̬͚̲̬̱͖̙͈̥̩̞̥͢͜͜ͅt͞҉҉̫͚ ̹̖̱à̡҉͝͏̳̺͈̹͙͕͇̰͈̜̥̰̫̤͈͙̞̪͓ģ̡̧̙̩̖͟͜ͅņ̮̼̗͕̗͔̕͜͡͞ ̼̻̺̦.̶̢̻͇̜̫͈͖̲͈͟͞

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"Ywaq...maq...whatever..." Saiza threw his hands up. "Of course! It's so obvious! Thank you for clearing that up! I'm so glad you brought me all the way here to give me that vital and highly useful piece of information!" He shook his fist at...everything. This whole environment seemed bent on harassing him to no purpose. "I am so tired of this!"

[Kodos]

T̛̲̭̜͑̽͢H̴̴͚̼̼̯ͫ̉̍̋͛̿͝E͉͈̱̙̖̯̖̹̐͑ͫ̕̕͘ ̬̖̦̹͕͕̭͚̮ͬ̄̿͝V̛̓̒̽͒̚҉͏͓̰̖̠͎̙E̱ͩ͜I͔̹͂̕͟L̷̨͕̥̣̜͕͋̐̅ͤ ͚ ̴̓̾҉͓̖̳̗͙I͉̍̌ͭ̍̂ͦͫS̪̹̙̜̬̟ͭ͗͟ ͖̲́̒ͪ͂̅L͗ͮͨ͗ͩͣ̃҉҉̩̼͖̟̣̭̜͖̣Ị̸̭̠͍͎̆ͩF̳̩̆̽́̀̕T͗̅̍̒ͬ̚ ̨̯̦̗̻̬İ̷̻͕͓̈́̅ͥͤ̇͊̽ͣ͘͠Nͯͯͮ̈ͪ̑̉͏̦̞G̵̨̺͖̥̋ͭ,ͭ̓̆͑̓ͩ̍̑ ̷͙̰͢ ̷̴͇̺͙͂̌̓̂ͅS̩̣͇̼̾͡A̸̢̳̭̯̖͖̝ͫ̔̽͊̾̚̕I̡̱̘͙̖ͦ̂ͪͭͮ͐̾ͦ͝Ẑ ̱̖̳̙̳͈̭͌̿ͦ̏͑̅̓̑ͅA̶̸̶̤̹̜̟͍̎ͫ ͉͚͖͔̳͆ͪ̉͒̐͊̚A̺̖͓̭̥͇ͬ͐͒ͨ͑ͧ͢͡Ȗ̶̡̧̗͎ͧͥ͂̋͆L͋́́͏̙͓̖͝A͂ ̢̜̹̝̩̮̫̳͇͘͠Z͇̰͖̯̽̈́̏͐ͧ̕͟ͅ.̯̜̠̞͉̹ͬ̾ͭ̕͢͠



I̸̮̦̼̻̜̠̫̫̙͖̫͎̠̬͕ͨ́̾̄͂̑͛ͬͫ́͟͜͝ͅ ̶̡̹̲͈̳̻̪͇͛͗͋͊̍͡ͅS̸̴̈́̄̊͒ͥ̅̀͜҉̥̰͈̟̣̼̼̼͙͓̳͍̖̠̭̠ͅËͥ͂̃ ̌̂҉̨͚̹̞͙̱̱̣̩͍͙̥́E̵̝̺̜̲̰͔͍̒ͦ̽̅̇̈́̍͜ ̞̙̺̲͖̠͈̻̗̜̙̗̄͌̽̀͂͛̈ͪͫ͂͑͂͌̉͑̾̚͡ͅͅY̧̿͛̍͗̂͛̂̊̎̀̍ͫ̓̚҉͢ ̸̙̦̞̗̤̥̰͈̙̦͎̻̰͕̯̜͚̗͖O̷̭̩͚͓̰͖̮̟̦̪͔ͥͧ͊ͧ̒ͣͧͮ̊̿̄̕U͑ͮͬ̆ ̧̢̻͖̟̩̪̭̾̾͋.̈̐̍̋̔͛ͪ҉̡̦͙̘̭̫͞ (http://i.imgur.com/bLWBM.jpg)

Scores of black tentacles shot forth from the Monolith/Hole In the World, grabbing and entwining around Saiza.

There was a buzzing in his head.
The noise was unbearable.

Music. Music now.
So beautiful. So horrible. (http://tindeck.com/listen/gprt)

Don't you hear them?
They're singing.

BEYOND THE VEIL, T͏̡̧͟H̴̡̕E̷͡Y̶̷̡͡.̴̸̢͠͡ SING. (http://i.imgur.com/CMJjI.jpg)


G̷̷̥͔̱̲̹͑͋̾͊̚̚Ǔ̠̩͖̯͓̖͇͖̩̊̆̊ͣ͑̓L̫̳̜ͬͬ̌ͭ̀'͙̪͈͕̂̎ͮͫ̏ ̳̰̼K̵̟͍̥͍͚͆ͨ̐͗̃͠À̢̯̠͉͚̪̦̲̠̚ͅF̤̺͉̹͔͛ͣ͛͐͌͑H̸ͨͥ̿̍̽̾̚ ͕̺̠̩̣̪ ̴̦͓͕͇̯̑͂̂͊̽̅ͣͭ̏A̶̞̤̥̼̙͖͇̰ͤ̂͂̊̓̔ͣŇ̟̻̮̭͉̗̬͚̜̉͟'̽̍ͬͬ ̵̳̗̣̤̦̈́ͭͩͮ͂́S͚̜̼̗͙̖͌̋ͩ́͟H̴͑ͪ͆́̆̿̋҉͈̜̳͚̻E͓͕ͬ̋̑ͬ̚̚͠L ̜̰̘̥̙ͪ̽̋͋͞!̵͎̝͓̹͓̜̲̇̕͝ ̘̱͕̝͍ͬͮ̓͗ͬ͠Y͎̼͓͕̞̯̭̔͌́́ͅO̥̺̩̭̪̰̲̹̅ͯ̓́̑̀Q̵̛͌̌͌̍̊̐̎́ ̲̰̭̥'̡̠͎͚̮̦̟̦̅͗͑ͨ̀̕A̾ͣ̇̏͋ͧ҉̰̝̬͈͉̖͖̯ͅL̶̺͙̠͎͂͌̃ͧ͂́̚͘ ̗ ̢̮ͥͥ͌̚S͈͍̺̼͎̺̺͖̑̆̒ͬH̴͍̪̘̟͔̉̈́͗̃ͨͪ̈ͅN̵͓̘͉̙͒̚ ̵̧̪̻̠̺̥͚̩̥̟ͮ͗͞Ķ̛̗͙̱̅͂̇̍̋̏Y̡̯̺͓͎̔̋̊̈ͥͧ ̓͂͐͆͘͏̙͇̥̼̲̻̤͔͟Y̡͈̣̥͇̪̔ͭ̅́ͥ̿̂ͯ͟W̷̠̣̍ͥͣͅA̶̳͎̠͇͌̌̿̑ͮ ̺͔ͅQ̬ͬͫ̑̑ ̲̼̞̐̇̉̂̀ͧ͞N̞̲͈̪̬̮ͮ͊Ṵ̼̬̠̭̪̟͐͆̅ͯͥ̅̔ͦ͢Ǘ̹̩̝̺̜ͯ̌͌͛̓ͨL ͙͖͓͋͌!̹̙͈͙͊ͨ͊͠


His head was going to explode.

His head exploded.

Then the tentacles tore him apart and pulled the pieces into the monolith/hole.

Then he was hole again.
Then he was whole again.

Then he was falling again.

*

In Korshim (http://i.imgur.com/UrlhJ.jpg), the Plague of Flesh roils across the metal plains.
In Nidor (http://i.imgur.com/Vhxew.jpg), the Great Poison bleeds across the world.
In Ugarit (http://i.imgur.com/hjmDM.jpg), the Deep Ones ravage across the deeps.



Ǎ̄̔҉͠L͗͂ͣ͐̐ͤ̍̃͌L̡ͭ͟ ̨̧ͬ͑̒͗D̶͑̓̂̍̾͒ͮͦR̐̍̔̋̚É̷͌͌ͦÁ̸̴́͟M̛ͪ̏͊̿̌҉Sͩ̓͡ ̅W̑ͮͮ̅Ǎͫ́ͥ͐͠K̢͌ͥ͂͒I̷̶̅͆͛͊͢Nͧ͛ͦ͢G̒͑͒̎ͬ͠.̾̐͐̾̒̽ ̵
T̷̯̜̳̣̜͇̦̳͉͓͍͙̲̙̙͖̠́ͅH͎̼̮͎͘͠E̢̫͍͓͖͢͝ ̜̪͇̺͖̱͎͙͓͉͢͝ͅV̩͇͔̟̱̣̲̺̠̖̬̙̺̫̰͘͜͝ͅE̵҉͕̺͕̭̦̟͓̥̣̖̻̻͓̙ ̠̻̥ͅI̡̫̘̭̼̣͓̜̦͕̜̰͕̬̹̯͇L̸̛͇͉̲̲̙̖̞͇̰͖͉̯̼̠̝̪̭͜͞ ̛͇̪̠̰̖̳͇̤̟̥̺̣̻̻̳͍̱ͅI͖͖̘͈͉̣̟͟͠ͅS͕̥͓̩̠̗͝ ̸̧̨̖̘̳͍̗̥̣͖̘̳̪̕͢L͍̗̝̟̝̪̲̤͘͠I̛͇̰̬̟̯͕͓̙̤͉̤͘F̷̸̭̻̳̭̠͠ ̜̦̹͉͍̥̟͕̖̺̩̙̻̭T̶̘͈̭̪̜̕͟͡I̛͔̥̝̖̗̖͕͇̞̮̹̖̰̼̘̼͢ͅN̶̰̪͕͞ ̠̳̞̜͙̭̗͔͕̖̠ͅĢ͉̤̗͝.̷̨̖̲̠̘̞̣̞͔̘͠ͅͅͅ



And then Saiza woke up.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza didn't want to get up.

What the hell had just happened? Why was this happening to him?

As sickened as he was, there was less angst in the thoughts than usual. Elder Gods, Ilithids, and warfare across the planes... These dreams were making him miserable, but they looked minuscule compared to a possible apocalypse.

He needed Mathias. He crawled over to where the mystic slept and gave his shoulder a shake.

[Kodos]

Mathias melted. The walls melted. Everything melted away into an endless black abyss.

Except Saiza. He was falling. No sense of anything.

So cold. So dark.

Tentacles were holding him, now - although he could not see them. Something enormous was here, with him.

Saiza was so small.

A great voice addressed him coming from everywhere without. It was similar to, but not identical to, the horrific voices from earlier.

Y̦̐͐̂͒̃̎̽ͅo̷̪͙̦̿ͤ͑͗̈́̾̑ú̷̮͓͈̬̝͈̔̓̓ͣ̒͗̚͜ ̶̋ͯ͒͑͂ͯ̀ͦ͞҉͎̦̰̙̖̬̜ą͙̥͕̭̟́̍̾͐͜͞ͅr̴̻̘̯̜̳ͫ͂ͭͣͮę̍̈͗͡ ͎̩̗ ̻͙͎̤͚͗ͣn̸̳̼͔͍̞̩͖͍ͣ̈́̽̍ͦ̄̇̐͜o̷̧͔͔̝̪̥͗̈́̒ͧ̓̐̌ͨ̚͠t̸̸ͪͯͅ ̰̘͔͍͎͍͙ ̵̢͓̰̱̤̠͒̓̀̕Sͨ͑́͒̑̏̋͏̸̼̳̯͇͓̬͔a͔̦͚͑̒͜r̛̭̝͙̖̰͈͔ͬ̈͘n̆͑ ̢̙̝̹͒͞ḁ̠̯͓͕̆̀͑ͨͯt̡̹̲̻̙͆͌̃̌̃͛ͬ̈ͅh̷̻̼̙̻̍̄͗͊ͬ̊͗̂ͤ̀̕. ̀҉̗̱͓̲

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza screamed as the world collapsed. Though he had just recently been pulled through a vast and endless abyss of existential despair, falling into one while (apparently) awake was not something he expected.

Twisting fruitlessly among the tentacles, Saiza snarled, "Fuck you and goddamned Sarnath!"

[Kodos]

The tentacles seemed to be turning Saiza over and around (it was hard to tell in the featureless void).

T̴̶̴̲̖̍̑̎̉̏i̷͕̮̬͓̬͗͘e̵̞̙͆̄̒f̓ͩ̃ͬ҉͔͚͕̜̙̙͎̀l̇̀ͨ̿ͤ̌͗̉ ̤̣̈́̀̀ī͙̱͖̟̭͔̖̞͓ͧ̃̆̽͑̂͝ṅ̶̘͓̦̙̈́̾̉̂ͣͫ̚͟g̷̝̣̜ͯͣ͜.ͮͨ̽ ̥̩̤̣͙͈͐ͣ̉ͪ͞ ͙̪̙̠̝ͣ̽̊͑ͭ̇ͩ͢H̷̻̮̙̍̑ͬṻ͙̻̝͚̱̣̝̭m̛̖̖̪͈̘̞̂̋̍̉̄̍̏͛͢a ̎̄ͬ̄̇͊̑ͩ͞҉͏͕͈̖̣͔n̸̢̻͍̱̬̙̍ͩͬ͋͠-ͥͪ҉̸̲̟B̨̝̚̕͜a͑̌̃̓͒̔̚͏̺̩͈͓́͠a̹̬̹̳̩͈̜͙ͯ͌͗̽̉̏͋ṯ̶ͭ͊̚͡ ̦͔͍͈̱̰̖ȇ͎̹̱̣͖̦̩̾̚ͅz̵̸̖̯̜̐ͩͣͬ͒̍́u̧͙͆ͤ ̼̳͈̼ͪ́ͣͫ̑h̓̄̈́̋̆͏̵̗̺ŷ̼̭̭̬͎̱̪̠̯ͣͮͩͪ̚̚b͓̩̯͙̻̀̍r͑̒͊̃ͨ ̨̛̤̮͈̬ͯ͢ḯ͇̬̬̟̱̹ͮͫ̐d̵̻̘̲͋̉̎ͫ͌͋͐̿-̯͚͉͙͇̤̰̯͖̌̓͟c̗͍̻̓̃̊̏ͭͣ͒ͪ͢ͅṟ̢̖̯̺̥̾͊̓̃͋̎̂͐͞ẽ̢̜ͭ͆̇͡ ̠͖̯͔a̻̥͍̜ͬ̓̽̅͗̏̃̚͜ͅt̤̺͒̓̽ͫ͛͡ư͓̰̰̙͙̮͚͋̆̈́̏ͤ̚͘r̔̈́ͦ̿͗ ̧̧͖̺̩͝ȇ̵͎̥̠̱͕̲̦̽̒̚.̣͕̖̜̙̼͊̋̈́ͦ̕͠͡ ̥̄̂͆͌̊͟͜

The great voice said simply.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza managed to give one tentacle a rather impressive kick to the....tentacle, but that was the most he could do. He stopped struggling as the initial rush of rage and fear dissipated. Somewhat. It wasn't as if he could get away, and if he was dropped there was probably just more abyss.

"Yes. Saiza the Tiefling at your service." His voice was taut. "Who is Sarnath?" Who knew? If he kept asking questions, maybe he would eventually get a satisfactory answer.

[Kodos]

Y̻̱͕̱͎̓̃̏̏͜͜͜ͅo̵̭̰̬̩̠͓̪͔ͩu̡̨͖͖̟̦͔͉͋ͥͭ ̴̲͕͚̫̲͕̖͖̔ͩ̍̈͞a̴̠̪ͨ͆ͦͭ̓̆͟͜r̳̯͚̬͉̺̖͂̌̈́e̫̝͙̯͛̒ͣ̅ ̞ ̡̬̺̓ͬ̊̌̐͟n̹̞̟̙͈̠̼̖̂̂̌͠o̵̷͔̼̟̳͇ͮͬ̏̀t̛͓̝͚̫̱̘̞̿̓̾̓̽̋́ ͖ ̵̡̼͉̓͞S̴̮̭̻͖̑ͩǎͦ͌ͭ̓̍҉̤͡r̟̺͓̩̭̗ͨ̄ͣ͐͗̑ͫͬͩn͚ͦ̑́̋̓̊ͯ͟ ͔̯̭̰a̵̷̹̦̥̫̲ͪͦ̄ͬ͐t̗̭̟̗̝̊̎͛́ͣ̈́͟͢ḥ̺̣͇̥̱̖̥̓̾͂̓̈́̔̂̏́͟ ̩.̷̤͓̜̗̰̻̱̥̎͑̿̈͌

The god-voice repeated.

Saiza could feel it, in his mind. There were tentacles there, too.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza jerked his head, as if he could somehow rid the thing's probing tentacles from twisting through his thoughts and feelings. "Stop."

He started flailing again, again without much point. "We've...only met each other a few times! Isn't it a bit early in the relationship to bring in the mind reading and tentacles?!" Could he bite a tentacle? What would it taste like? At the very least it would make him feel a little better. "Maybe if you tell me about Sarnath, I can help you find him? Who is he? Why are you expecting him?"

[Kodos]

T̘͓̜̄̒ͦ͛̿ͥ̏̓͐i̙̥͓͉̫͉ͤͣ͛̋ͦ̓̐͂̕e̴̴̬̹̞͍̦̝̽̉ͪͧͪͥf̢̽̊͝ͅ ̘ľ̶̖͖̦̳͍͒̏̽̿̽̊i̤̺̣͍͖̬̋̄̑͛̌͝n̠̔͂̓g̴̻͉̮̦̤ͪ̒͗ͬͯ̇ͥ̓͜͞ ̪̖̠.̛̠̺͍͉̳ͤͅͅ, the great sonorous voice droned, y̻̲̳̱̲̬̟͕͋ͫ̿̌̊ͬ́ͅo̡̰̞̟͚̪ͧ̿ͬͬ̇ͩ̾̓ũ̹̣̣̩̋̂ͤͩͭ́̔̇͡ ̠̪ ̝̩͖̖̪̆͊̃̐ͧ̈́ͯ̿̚͘͠ͅt̷ͣ҉̜̦ō̖͖̱͖̟̃̔̔̀͠u̦̰̯̞̗͉̮̾̾̐̓ͦ͟͠ ̠ͅc̢͎͈͖̥͚̆͑̔͡h̳̤̗͑̈́ ̲̺ͪͦ̒m̧̲̤̖̭̮̪̒̔̌̓̓͋ͧͯẏ͙̻̬̃̅́̀̕ ̭̰̪̙͉̲̮̿̽̓̄̍͂̚͝m̵̥̖̤̂̀̉͟ȩ̲̠̖͉̲ͯ͗̇͐̿͋ͤͦ͝m̷̶̹͙͐̔ͣ̔ͯ ̦̜̫̘̱̝o̪̥ͤͥ͐́̈́̀r̨̛͈̱̱ͫͪͭ̉̿͝iͨ͆͏̻̥ȩ̮̠̂̏ͯś̶̡̹̠͌ͫͭ̾ ̟͙̻̱̰ͅ,̣̮͉̂́ͪ̍ͦ ̜̝̝̹̪ͦͪ͠f̡͖͖̖̳̘ͤ̿͊̄̈́u̹ͨ̈́ͮ̿̒̈͑m̢̦̖̠͕̜̜̻̌ͥ̊͋͒b̒̀͌̈́ͬ ̶̷̳̰͔̦ͬͫ͒l̜̰̳̜̿̆̅ͯ͗i͉͔ͧ͛̾͂̀͑͐̔̿ṋ̣̜̰̰̫͎ͤ̿̑̓́̑̄g͆ͣͦ ̡͚̼̪̫̞̘̙͒͟͝ ̷͔ͦͬ͑ͨ̑i̦͚̙̞̔͆̆̏́̽̅͘͟͝n̳̼̻̺̙̘̬̮̳̑ͮ͂ͮ̈̽̾̓̂̕͠ ̣͇͖̟̹͈̟̿͋̄͛̚ͅį̮̖̆͛ͤͬͫg̷̡̦̎ͮ̇͛ͤͣ͒n͔͖̹̱̘ͤ͗̕͡ȍͨ̉̐̊͆ ͔̺̘͙͕̻͔r̫͖̪͉͛ͩ̒̾ͣ̏̀ͥ͠a͉̖̼̤̘͔̲̪̅̂̆̉̈́ṅ̸ͨ͋͏̲͔̥c̵̨̹̾̃ ͖e͎͖̣̜͉͔ͮ̾̎̓̈́̓ͮͅ.̲͔͍͙̟ͬ͌ͥ͆ͯͣͤ̂͆́͡ ̧̢̰̱̌ͣ͜

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"Well, maybe I wouldn't be so ignorant if people told me things! Or...whatever you are! So fuck you!" A tentacle squirmed near his face, and Saiza jerked forward, biting down hard on it.

[Kodos]

There was no reaction to him biting the tentacle.

M̢̀͟y͢͝ ͘҉̨k̨̡i̶̕҉n̶͜ḑ ͠͏t̢́r͞a̶͜͏nsc҉͞e̡n͜d̴̵ ͡y͏our̢̡ ̡͜v̧͝e̡̕͡r͜͜y ͢͜͜un̷҉d̷͟e͟͝r̷̕͟s̴͡t̢͘a̛͘n̢d̸̷į͏̴n̴̵̡g͡.̸́͝ ̷W͠e҉ ͏҉a̧̕͢r͜͞e̡ ̵e̶͠a̧̨͢ćh͟͞ ͟p͏ȩ͡r̷͘fe̡c͞t҉,̷̛̛ ̢e͞͞ter̡ņ͢á̶̡l̶͟;̷ ͏f͏̶r͢ȩ̷e̴ ̡o̵͡f́ ̶͢a̶ļ̨͘l̛ ͡͝f͞͡la͟ẃ̕,̡̀ ̴́c͜͝r͏͡ȩat̸e҉͏̢d҉̵ ̧i͟n͏ ̕͟t̶́he̡ ͞l͞͠íkȩ̴͜n͢e̛͟͞s̸͡҉ş͝ ̢a̛͜n̵̵d̛͠ i̵m͡͡a͘g̶e̡͞ ̧͟o̵f̧́͝ ҉̢t̷̡̧hé͢ ̕I͝ņ̧e͞v̨͘ìt͡ab̕͡l̛͞e. ͘Y̨o͏͘u̵͝͝ c̴̨ą̵̶ǹ̷n̷ó̢t͟ ̸̨̨ev͜e͝ǹ͏ ̶͏͠ǵ̡rá̧s̷̨̕p̡͟ th̵̨͠e̛͡ ̨͘n̕a͢͡t̶u̢̧͟r̡͠͡é ͜o̕͝f o̸úr̛̀ ̢̧ę̡x́͡ist͠e̸n̕͏̧c̛͟͢e̶̛.̛

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Biting the tentacle did not make him feel better.

Saiza wondered, vaguely, what his body was up to. Was it lying still and quiet, curled up just where he'd left it? Or was it thrashing and screaming in horror? Or was this his body?

It was a strange thought, but a giddy, panicky feeling had long since overtaken Saiza and his ability to think very rationally.

"I don't care what you are! I want you to leave me alone! Why won't you leave me alone?! I'm just an thief from Shalebridge! Why are you doing this to me?"

[Kodos]

The god-voice gave no response, still apparently examining Saiza, within and without.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"What the hell are you looking for, anyway? I'm just a fucking guy! It's not goddamn exciting! I'm not smuggling Sarnath in my large intestine! Doesn't a perfect being like you have something better to do all day? We've already gone through this! Don't you remember!?" Saiza went limp, catching his breath. "Least you say more than Ywaq maq whatever...Who the fuck is Sarnath...?" the last question was aimed more at himself than the thing.

Still no response. Saiza grimaced. "What is it going to take to get you to let me go? What am I going to have to give to you or do for you? You must want me for something. Or are you bored? Are you one of those things I saw? An Elder God?"

Will Save
1d20+4=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001027/)
1d20+4=18 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001046/)
1d20+4=9 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001053/)
1d20+4=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001055/)
Failure

[Kodos]

È͡l̵̡͜d͜͠e̷͢͜ŕ̨̛ G̵ǫ͝͠d́̕҉?̀ ̡̛Ýǫ̷u̢͘ ̧̕m͏işt̛͡a͜k̢͞è ̴t҉̵h̶e m̶a͜s͞t͝e̶̛͘r ̀f͢͝ó̵r̶͟ ͝͏t̵̛ḩ̀e͜͞ ̡s̢͟l͝á̢͠ve̡͟. the great voice replied.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"What the hell is that supposed to...Are you saying you're a master of Elder Gods?" Saiza really, really hoped that wasn't the case. "Or a slave to them? Are you from behind the Veil?"

No answer.

"You're a jerk." Not his most scathing insult, but true. Saiza's mind was too foggy to come up with much better. "I guess you're the one who keeps bringing me here in my dreams? Thanks for that, asshole. Did you gang up with the Red and White Queens and the spooky black and white creatures with the masks?"

"Is there a point to any of this?"

Will Save
1d20+4=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001057/)
1d20+4=13 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3001065/)

[Kodos]

N̛o̡.͝ ̧͜Y͝ou̧͜͏ŕ͝ ͟e͞xis͠t̶҉e̷n̴c̡͡e͟͡ ̴̀i͘͠s ̷̡̕w̵͟i̛t̛͜h̸̕͟ơ̷ừ͠t̡̢ ͡͠p̕o͡ì͡n҉t̸ ̵o͠r̡ m̀ea̷͟n̛̕in͟g̴. Án̛ ̧̛a̷̛͜ç̡c͢i͢d̶͟en͜t̷̡.̨̀͜ ̢̛͡Y̢̨͜o͞ú̡͟ ex͏̢i̛͡s͢t͡͞͏ ̧̕b̡e͜͞c̸̡au̕s̸e̡ ͟we͏̴ ͞a̧̧͡l̨҉l͟͡͝o͠͠w̛ ̷̨͟í̶́t̡͝,̡́͝ ̶a͘nd̸ ̨͘yo̴͜͡ú̷ ͜ẃ̢͡il̨l̛ ͏e͘͠n͘͜d̶̴ beç͟au̶şe҉̷ ̕҉͝w̛͟e̢͏́ ̷͠d͏e̸̛m̧͘͝an̨d̡͜ ҉it͏̡.̵͠ was the god-voice's reply. The tentacles had retracted now. Saiza was falling again - but it was still here with him.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza gasped when he was abruptly dropped. He wasn't terrified of the falling itself; he had fallen so much in this place that he did not expect to hit something. The infinite blackness made it something of a challenge to really perceive the movement, which could almost be considered a positive if it wasn't terrifying in its own right.

"You asshole!"

Will Save
1d20+4=23 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3002254/)

"Stupid...thing...You are...Ugh! If you're so powerful, what are you doing harassing me! Why aren't you destroying the world or some shit? Can't even find your goddamn Sarnath. Stupid, stupid, stupid....thing!" He paused for a while, falling silently. After a moment, he said, "So...are you related to the Ilithids?" Trying to make conversation while plummeting. "Making that Veil lift?"

Will Save
1d20=13 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3002296/)

[Kodos]

Wh̸a͞t́̕͘ i̧͢s͜͡ ̢͠͠a̡͟ ҉͞͠d̷ro̶̧͢p ̸̴̡o̶͠f́ r̢̨ain̸̨ ̴͟c͢͜o҉m͢҉p̨̀a̶͠r̡̛͡ȩ͞d̷̀͟ ̸t̵o ̧́t͜h͜ȩ͘͡ s̵̢̕t̷̴́o̧͞r̀͘m̴҉̧?̶ ̴̴̛Wh́a̴t ͘is̸̢ ̵̨͡a͢ ̸̕t͘h͞o̵͜u̢͜g͜ht̡ ̴c͟͜͝ơ̢͡mpa͘͟r̸͡ed͞ ̀̕͜t̡o͘҉ a̕͠ m̵̨̡í̡n̶̢d͏͟?҉͝͡ ̕͠
̸̷T̸he̴͘r̶e͘ ̕͢i͡ś͜ ͘a͝ ̀͟s̡͡t̛a̵̕t̴̶́e̷͘ o̢f͠ ͏͢ex͞҉i҉st͝ę͢n̕͡c҉͠e̵̸̶ ̛͘͜s̡͜o ̧̨f́a̴͜r͏ ̴̶be̛͜ỳ͟͢o͘͟͞n̷̡̢d̸ ͢oẃ̨ǹ̸͝ ý̡͞o̸ú̴͡ ca͢͢n̵n̵̢̛ò̸̡t̕͟ ̵̸e̴͘͡ve̴̢͡n҉͏ ̷̨͜i̢͠͠m̧͞ągi̶̡ne̢͏ ̴i̧t̸̴́.̨
̸I̴̕͡ ͏̷̧a̕m̷ ̵̧b́e̸̶y͟on̢̧̛d ̢͘y͝ǫ̨ur̨ ͠ć͘o͝m̴p͘͜r͡e̸̴͡h̡̡͘e͢͠n͡҉s̵ión̴͝.̀̕
͏҉I̸̛ ̴͟͜a̸͢m ̶̡D̴͝͝u͜ev͜͞v͏̸e͞r͟͏͢a̶k̷.̛͢

T̨́h̢e̶ ̨҉V̕e͏̕i̴̧̧l̸҉ ̡i̧s̶ li̛͘f̴̛͏t́i̛͘n̴g͘.͏̀͞
͘͢T̸h̷e c̶͘y͢͠c͘l̛ę̴̶ ͘h͢a҉s̡ ̧͡r̶͡e̛p̴e҉aţ̷e͢͏d ́͡í̴́ts̶̴͝e͞҉l͡͡͞f ̴̀͢ḿ̶̨ore̡̛͘ ̶͢t̸̨́i͠ḿ̵́es̨͏ ̵̶̀t̵̶͡h͡a͝n ҉̵͢yo̸͞͏u҉͞ ͘͜c҉a̢͝ń͟ ͜͠i̶̶͜ḿ̡agì̢n͘͘e.̴̢͜ ̵̵͟Yo͟ù͏ ̨̡͠a͘re no͢t҉ t̸́͢h͝ę͠ ҉f̢̀i͢r͟s͠͞͠t̕ ̨̛a̛̕n̨̛d̸̨ ͏y̶o̴̵͠u̸̧ ̧̕w̶il̡͟l̴͟ ̡́n̨o̶̧͞t̕͘ ̴̡b̴e ̛́th̡e̵̵ ̛las̕͏t̶.͜͢͞

[Alexander_Hamilton]

“I am not the first? The first what? Do you want something from me? That is what I want to know!” Saiza loathed this helplessness. He couldn’t do anything but hope that he might get some enlightenment out of this nightmare. “There’s got to be a reason why I keep ending up here! Is this some kind of accident? Am I not supposed to be here at all…? Great management skills there, Duevverak.” He closed his eyes. It felt a bit better than staring out into infinite emptiness. “I’m getting rid of that fucking monolith.”

Will Save
1d20=17 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3003743/)

[Kodos]

Yo̡u͟r̨ ̨͠q̨̨ues͘ţ͜i̡ons҉ ͟aŕ̀͏ȩ̸҉ ͜a̵̕s̶̡̨ ̴i̡͠nsìg͏͟͞n̶if̴̧͟ica̧ń̨͘t̶̛͝ ́̀a̛ś̕ ̕y͟͟our̵͡ ̶̛҉e̢̢̕x̸̴į̴ş̷t̨e͠n͘͞͝c҉e.̢ ̛T̸̛҉ḩe ̸̶c͏y̶c̶̨l̛ȩ̢ ̧̀͏cąn̨͡͏n͝͏o҉t̶̡̨ ̡̨b̸͞ę̶ ̢͞b҉ŕ̵͟o̕k̀̕͢ę͝n͘͝.̴ ̡Ẃ̀e͠ ̸͠c͏͏̢a̡̕n̴̵͠n͏ot̡͏ ̢͡b͘ȩ҉͠ ̡̧s̸̸͞t̡̨͞op̷̨p̕҉̀e͡d̸̀.̛̛
̸̛͝Y̢͜o҉̨u̢͜͟r͟ ͘̕ex̕ti͜͢͝n̵c̴̕͠t҉̵io͢͞n͡ ͏̸is͘ ͏í͡n̴̡ev͠i̵͜t͘a̡̛͘b̴̛͜l̷͟e͏.
̕͟W̕e̕ ̷a̵̢͜ŗ͡͠e҉͏ ̨͜i̛n҉̶ev͢i̢͜҉ţ̛͟a͏b͠͡l̀e̷̷.
́We͞ a͏r̨̧é͞ ̸̕͝t̸̕͜h͏e̛ ̀e̷nd͘ ̧̀̕ǫ͡f͡ ̶e̸̸v̸ęr͜yţ͜hi͘͢͏ng.̴͜͠

Y͘͟҉ò́͘u̕̕͡r̴̛̀̕͢ ̸̀͟͏̧ẃ̸̵́o̡̕r̡̢̕d͟s̶̴̷͞ ́͡͝a̷͟͟r͡͏̴̛e͠ ̛͟͢a̷ś̀͟ ̡͢͠͝͏ȩ́͠m̷̡̛͘͞p̢̨͟t̢͜͝y͏͘ ̧҉̸͜a͏̵̡̧̀s̀͜ ̷̶͘͝y̷̧͢͠o̸͘͏̕u͠҉̛̕͢r̴̵̛͜͠ ̶̢́͏f̢u̷̵̢t̴̸̢̛̕u͏͞ŗ̸́̕͟ȩ̸̷.͜͜͡ ̷̢͘͜
̵͜I̡͠ ̢̕͝a̧̕͞ḿ̶̴͠ ҉̢͝͡͝t̨͠͏͢͠h͝͝ȩ͘͘ ̀͜͠h͏̨̛́á̴́͘͝r̵̷̴b͜͝͡į͝ń̸̛͢͞g̴̵̷͘èr҉҉̢̢ ͢҉̷̷̀o҉͠f̵̸̷͢ ͢͝҉͏y̧͘̕͝o̧͠҉͘u̕̕͟r͞ ̷͢͜d̀o̕҉͠o̢͢m̵̢̕͜͏.̴͠ ̛͏͏
̧͟͝T҉h̨̧̀í͟҉͢s͏̸̡̛͞ ͏̵͘͜ȩ̡x̵̢c̷̢̡̀h̡̕a̧̛͘͝͡n̶̵͘g͘͏e̶̕͞ ̷҉͘i͏s̕ ̸́͢͏͘ò̸̴̴v̨́͝͡e̡r̨̛̕.̵̕͢

Duevverak was leaving, Saiza could tell. Saiza could feel the great mind withdrawing from this place.

Alone now.

Here in the cold.
Here in the darkness.

So lonely.

But Saiza was not alone.

I̷͟͜͝͝t́̕͢ was here with him.
I̢͠҉͞t̴͘͡ always was.

And though he could never face it.
neverneverpleasegodsnononononono
It was the T͘҉̷̧͢r̶͘͡͝u̷̡͟͟͠t̡́͜h͘͏̕͘.́͝

But that was no company.
No comfort.

Never any comfort.

Just Saiza.
Alone.
Forever.
In the dark
And the cold.

Alone with his own creature darkness.

And though he can never face it.
Never look at it.
Never acknowledge it.

It sees him.

***

Ulow is suddenly started, and everyone else startled awake, by the sound of Saiza screaming at the top of his lungs.

He's screaming.
But he's also very clearly still asleep.

[Regantor]

Ulow jumped in place from her seated position, red eyes wide and fixed ahead, myraid hands crushing the half-eaten sandwich in their grip. The sudden impact of Saiza's frenzied howls was enough to make her body flinch and refuse to look over for a second. When she finally overcame the sensation, it was replaced with an expression of confusion and a loss of what to do about it. Saiza's nightmares were nothing new, but this one was differant...

Quickly, but causiously using an unthreatening posture, the chitine grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a firm shake, whilst simultainiously giving him a light tap on the left cheek. "S-Saiza... S-Sai...za... w-w-wake yourself up...."

What did he see this time? Was she doing the right thing waking him? Was she about to get punched in the face by his defence reflexes? Too much panic was still thundering through her chest to let her to think straight.

[Kodos]

Saiza woke up from Ulow's touch.

He remembered all of the horrible nightmare.

Except for his conversation with Duevverak. He remembered none of that. Just the horrific soul numbing cold.

He was alone there, in that place, for what must have been years.

~HAMMY CHECK YOUR PMS BEFORE POSTING~

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"Where...am I?" Saiza reached up to rub his throat, which had become sore from. He didn't seem to see Ulow, at first. Slowly, he pulled himself into a sitting position. His expression was that of someone who had just received a severe blow to the skull. "The...hell...was that? Ulow?" Rubbing his eyes, Saiza continued, "The monolith. Can you bring it to me? I...I need to see it for a second." He had no idea why he was saying that, but in his light headed, barely sensible state, it seemed like the right thing to do.

[Regantor]

Ulow glanced over to Mathias' satchel, then back to Saiza, her face now a blank. It's a key to something. I know that. Convoluted thoughts, scrambling through her mind faster than she could grab at them. My freinds think it's bad, and it is bad. Bad but a big sea, and too big to contain only bad. What did he see? Did he know how to use the key in the dream?

Frantically, she dove at Mathias' bag and removed the jet black stone before the drowzy young wizard could react. With it in her hands, she stopped just shy of the prone tiefling and gave him a new expression. I know this is bad. It said. But if it helps me find him, then...

"...Whad you did see?" She remained still, her eyes unblinking with intensity. The stone was his to take, but the girl felt wrong to outright put it in his grasp... Something was off. But if it helps me find him...

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"There were...I saw something. That happened in the past." The images were there, but jumbled. In truth, Saiza really did not want to force himself back into the memories of the dream yet. His mind felt painfully frostbitten, and he did not want to delve back into its recesses until it had thawed.

Saiza's bloodshot eyes fixed on the monolith. "That damned thing his caused me so much...Gods I should have destroyed it ages ago!" He crawled forward, and snatched it from Ulow. Painful, empty cold washed over him. Like a piece of his dream put in material form. He glowered at it furiously, and tensed, as if he was about to smash it. Then, his shoulders relaxed. Methodically, Saiza placed it on the floor in front of him, rested his crossed arms on top of it, and buried his head in his arms. "What did I do to deserve this? No one deserves this."

[Regantor]

His body language was scaring her. Ulow held out her hands in a wary defense, alrough her heart already stung with guilt.

"You didn' see-..." Ulow spoke after a second, but cut the question short, warry of showing off her perceived selfish intentions. "...I'm sorry."

Doing all that she could think of to comfort him, she just sat adjacent and made a slow, deliberately visible move of softly caressing his hair. The woman couldn't cure him. She couldn't even explain what was happening, exactly. But she could at least relate to his torture, and she hoped that Saiza could understand that.

[Lord_Windy]

"Well, maybe you should start by walking away from the..." Veldan's concerned voice trailed off as she stared at the monolith. Looking at the monolith was mesmerizing, the soul crushing loneliness of nothing was all that washed over her. Time slowed, there was no passing of time when there was nothing to measure it against. An instant felt like an eternity amongst the despair that the monolith just threw off like warmth from a fire.

It all came crashing back to reality as her little Emi bit her on the finger, sensing that her pack horse and friend was wandering off with the depression fairies. "Yes, that... thing. You won't feel better unless you put it away again, dwelling on it will just hurt"

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza lay still for a moment. Ulow's touch was surprisingly soothing, and he didn't want to move yet, and start addressing all of the shit he was in. Finally, he lifted himself off the monolith, though he kept his hands resting on the top of it.

"I guess you're right. I'll throw it in my pack in a minute." Actually, as horrible as the monolith was, its presence was somehow relieving. Like getting into a bath so hot that it burns, but not quite. "In a minute, but..."

"I saw things in my dream tonight. I have no idea what they mean, but they sure as hell mean something." As he spoke, Saiza's energy level shot up. "Something big is going to happen...something that happened before. I think? I saw Ilithids in control of Asul. Everywhere. I mean, even the other planes. Everyone was fighting them, even gods. Even Asmodeus. It was...it was insane. Something's coming. The Veil is lifting and something bad is coming out. When it was partially lifted, some kind of....incarnations of old gods came out? I have no idea what that means."

Saiza wrapped his fingers on the top of the monolith, eyes wide with disbelief at what was coming out of his own mouth. "And there are these two entities. They do that weird chant. And I saw an elf woman with glowing green eyes."

[Regantor]

"Headclaspers in... control? Our goddess said tha' dreams whure lies, but..." Ulow spoke softly, looking at the ground. Dissagreeing with her 'goddess' Rin was not somthing she took lightly. "Voices from the stone oftan lead to truths."

"Who were entities? Elvth woman?" The chitine asked blankly, not really expecting him to answer. More than anything, she just seemed bitter and tired. "...Somethingy badness... We should finish this task in quick, and tell Miss Shurwiunae, I think. You feel good for id, Saiza?"

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"But why what's the point of lying about something like that?" Saiza, finally ,took the monolith and shoved it into his own pack.He lingered over it briefly before turning back to Ulow. "You're right.We should get out of here. Get things over with."

A pause.

"In the...'kitchen'. There were so corpses but, they were...fresh. Relatively speaking. Does...I mean...This lich keeps people here doesn't he? And that psycho butchered them."

[Regantor]

"Maybe she think some truths better not knowin'..." Ulow replied somberly.

The chitine meekly examined (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3011447/) the rest of the kitchen for any more details that might help them, looking back the group every few paces for moral support. It was full of butchered human meat and skeletons.

[Duskyduck]

"We talk about getting this over with, but we've no idea how" Mathias mumbled, still half asleep. The mystic rubbed his eyes as he followed the chitine. Here and there, he'd almost tumble over the corpses. "I doubt there's anything for us here, Ulow. No need to force yourself. We've still got more than our fair share of dead things we'll be needing to deal with"

"Even if I had proper sleep...waking up again into this castle will rob me off my sanity"

[Kodos]

You made it to the third floor library without any other significant incident, just lots of undead on the way. Nothing too hard to handle.

***

The library was an enormous room, about 300x100 feet, and with the walls literally lined with bookshelves, from the floor to the 20 foot high ceiling. 24 other bookshelves of varying length but equal height were also present.

It might take a while to find the Liber Ivonis...

The air was rich with magic here, you could all feel it. It felt charged with life and power, with untapped potential waiting for release. Rin was right, you realized. The books seemed to resent being held here, their knowledge largely hidden and unused. You could almost hear them whispering...

[Regantor]

"Somehow more big make feel more empty." Ulow remarked, half to herself. It almost felt worse being in here than it did being outside. Too much open air meant too many directions to attack from. Rather than take the lead as before, she seemed to lurk as close to Mathias and Saiza as possible now, alternating between using the both of them as cover whilst she looked around.

"Methuhias... You magic-see whadh book? I can climb and find..." She whispered, tugging on the wizard's cloak whilst mimeing the act unconsiously. "You all miss hands and notd climb like good person as me... Notd ill fence..."

The psionic equivilent of looking through a key hole, Ulow took the procaution of trying to sniff out for any headclasper buisness, as useless as it might seem.

Ulow casts detect Psionics.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Hands on his hips, Saiza scanned what he could of the room from his position. All this way and so close. It was a miracle that they'd gotten this far without being eaten.

Spot
1d20+10=12
Listen
1d20+10=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3082751/)

"This is gonna take a while," he grumbled he shifted his bag of supplies of the floor. He shoved his hand blindly in, and after some rummaging, he removed a scroll of parchment and a little box of chalk. He handed both to Ulow. "Think you can write down the title? Don't know the language, so I'm going to have to go by how the words look."

[Lord_Windy]

Why, Saiza my dear. Please allow me to help! Veldan smiled while talking in a very proficient if stiff Undercommon, taking the scroll of Saiza. Little Emi popped up to stare at her beast of burden talking in moon language.

Veldan plopped her bags down to the ground and got to work writing out a couple of ways of spelling Liber Ivonis key terms for Horror, Necromancy and Books of Unspeakable Horror. She also put down on the piece of paper anything regarding Psions and more importantly soulknives (can't hurt to know a little more about this subject).

She also wrote down Fox in Undercommon, maybe the Lich couldn't be too bad if he had anything about the gorgeous little Emi in his library. Even the Worldsmasher had to have books about cute little critters

[Alexander_Hamilton]

While Veldan scratched out the terms, Saiza went back to his discarded pack. He gave the monolith a touch, reassuring himself of its location, buckled the pack up, and tossed it over his shoulders. He took the paper and gave the terms a good hard look.

"Let's get going. This place is huge, and we're gonna have to get a good look at every book so that we don't miss it."

http://i53.tinypic.com/2jewvhl.png
Search Check
1d20+10=30 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3090076/)

[Duskyduck]

If only they had more time. A public library holds a lot of content, no doubt. But this. This is different; The Lich's collection would contain lore he himself would selfishly keep from anyone else.

But there was little time for that - what good are a bunch of old tomes to a dead man?

"I'd give you all a hand, but I'm really not the best at this." Mathias resigned. "I'll stay close, just in case"

[Kodos]

Search check! Also where the fuck have you been Duck? Get in touch! I was getting worried. x_X

And add me as a friend! I still can't fucking pm you!

[Regantor]

Ulow was distracted whilst Veldan was actually writing the terms down, but hoisted herself up by Saiza's forearm to have a look afterwards. "Naw, naw! Nay!" She objected, grasping the paper and producing a fist full of her own chalk, mostly toned yellow for some reason. "Words of things notd existd!"

Her prefered translation of 'Liber Ivonis' was 'Librarypeice Whiteish'. The next thing she crossed out was Veldan's 'Thouxkz' approximation of 'Fox'; They barely even had dogs where she came from, so she thought 'Nice beady redhair bug rat' was better.

"Zowy-dyube-jybguoj-dah-juq!" She proclaimed, awfully proud and holding it up like a child's painting. Probally would have been a good time to tell them that she'd never been to school....

None the less, her interest was sparked in proving that she was actually good at something, so she wandered westwards and kept her eyes out for any titles in undercommon.

Search

1d20+5=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3092339/)

Decipher Script

1d20+5=11 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3092340/)

[Kodos]

There were scores of books on necromancy, countless books that contained things that could be called horrors, and a few bits on foxes in books regarding different applications, recipes, and histories for the spell Fox's Cunning, among other things. Plus some stuff on fox veneration in Southern Izumo in general and Kusanagi in particular.

All that said, no Liber Ivonis yet.

Hopefully Klarkash wouldn't come down and find you rifling through his stuff. That'd be pretty awkward.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"Ugh..."

Saiza wasn't happy with how long this was taking, but how the hell else would they find the book?

He continued searching.

Search
1d20+10=16
Spot
1d20+10=14
Listen
1d20+10=12 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3114776/)

[Regantor]

Ulow continued to clamber through the isles, taking elongated glances at anything she seen with an undercommon title, or bound in the hide of something clearly not from the surface. It made a welcome change, being able to read more than one or two words strung togeather; Reading uppitycommon made her feel like a child.

All this sudden determination sparked memories of Fillis and Rin. The spindily chitine girl dearly hoped all of the effort was bringing them closer rather than further away...

Search;

1d20+5 =8 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3117352/)

Spot;

1d20+1=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3117356/)

Decipher Script;

1d20+5=15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3117354/)

...Being so caught up in the moment, through, she failed to spot a stray book in the middle of the isle. Now the only things becoming closer where her face and the floor. :<

[Regantor]

Makoto could read like the best of warrior-poets, but the kind of arcane, obtuse literary bricks that layered the walls here just bored her to no end. Even if she could read half the more obscure langauges, it's not like she knew anything about magic in the first place...

Regardless, she kept quiet and soldiered on, cautiously gandering through the next isle east of the main group.

Damn, do I need a drink...

REG REJECTS YOUR MAKOTO AND SUPLANTS HIS OWN ('Cause Kodos told me to. :p)

Spot and Listen tests respectively;

1d20+15=21, 1d20+15=23 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3143135/)

[Alexander_Hamilton]

With a snarl, Saiza shoved the last book in the last shelf of the case back into its place. Gods, how would they ever find the damn thing? All they had to miss was ONE book. Maybe it would be hidden in shadow, or the titled would be rubbed off a little, or one of them would look away and look back and accidentally skip a volume.

He turned away and-

Screamed, staggered backward, fear and horror roiling up inside him. It was horrible, just horrible, so he screamed again-

"Huh?" Saiza reached for his forehead, which was lightly beaded with sweat. His entire felt tense, coiled up like a spring, but he couldn't imagine way. The fit of fear and shrieking been completely forgotten, like book titled swept over from an imperfect gaze. He started to inspect the shelves again with nary a thought to his unexplained tension.

[Lord_Windy]

Unbeknownst to our buxom heroine who had yet to re-read the revisions that Ulow had made to her impeccable translation of Undercommon, Veldan was probably the only one with any shot of finding the book.

Of course, the only one in the group who knew how to read the stupid language had neither the common sense to narrow the search down in what was obviously going to be a very organized library (Hey, Liches have a lot of time on their hands and are anal retentive enough to care) or the searching instinct of her friends.

Still, maybe she might get lucky



Spot and Search Check
<a href="http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3148542/">1d20+11=14, 1d20+1=9</a>

Or perhaps she'll haphazardly glance over the books so she could pay attention to whatever the hell Saiza was doing

[Regantor]

A monochrome mutli-armed blob hit Makoto at full speed, and she only just managed to keep her footing due to her well honed reflexes... Fur and pockets... Oh, it was Ulow using her as a ride again. Or, more correctly, Ulow using her as a pedestal so she could lean around the corner and see what was wrong with Saiza.

"Don'd scream he realize?..."

"He looks fine to me. That was super weird..."

"...Walky closer please..."

Shrugging again, Makoto just approached the tiefling from the behind and tried not to startle him any further. "Erm... Saiza honey, you okay?" The ninja whispered, instinctively cautious. They were in a liches' library. There was no telling what could come over any of them, so Makoto kept her guard up.

Ulow, on the other hand, had no such qualms, tugging violently on his sleeve. "Why you noisyboy? We're try'na sneak here!"

[Kodos]

The group was suddenly aware that it was much colder in the room.

And they were not alone.

It was horrible, and it was standing right by the entrance. The thing had been a man once - it had been alive once - but now it was no longer either of those things. It's body was skeletally thing - literally - and its flesh was leathery and clung to it tightly in some places, while hanging loose or off in strips in others. His eyes and most of its face had long since rotted away, but scraggly black hairs still hung from its skull. It was wrapped in decaying clothes, and carried an ornate arcane staff in one skeletal hand. It reeked of death and magic, horror and inhumanity.
(http://i.imgur.com/xqS6j.jpg)
Klarkash Ton, the Scourge of Basarab, was visiting his guests.

Behind him, and to his side slightly, was a skeleton in armor. It was cradling something wrapped in sheets in it's skeletal hands.

Klarkash spoke, his voice hollow, empty, and complete with a ghostly reverb. It hurt to listen to. There was nothing human in him now, and there probably never was anything human to begin with.

"A Tiefling, a Chitine, three Humans, and a fox. You're not the usual fare. Who are you, why are you here, and why should I put off killing you long enough to hear the answer?"

[Lord_Windy]

"I'm Veldan, a soulknife and I'm looking for a really evil book in your possession as a present for someone I don't really know because someone really important asked me too," Veldan blurted, obviously being scared and concerned about the situation didn't help much. She put Emi down and tried to move her out of the way towards Ulow with her foot before making a sad smile at her friends.

"My friends followed me here and don't know what they were up to." Veldan started again, finding a bit of confidence in what she found to be sacrifice. "I'm the only one who is interesting anyway, I can do Psionics. So you should let the others go because they are utterly useless; you don't want them to keep you from something interesting. They can see themselves out."

No-one was getting out of this situation, and again the same reason she made a deal with the Devils was the same reason she was happy to die for her friends. Perhaps Saiza would take the lead and run like shit.

Emi had none of Veldan's selfless spunk, instead deciding to do the intelligent thing and began to get outta there. Fluffing up and fleeing under the weighty bookshelves

[Kodos]

"You say you are looking for 'an evil book.' Be more specific; what book are you looking for? Who is this important person who has asked yuo to obtain this book, and who is this book to be a present for? Finally, two additional points: First, you are lying about something. Lie to me again and I will track down your family and I will kill them. Second, you did not answer my question: why should I not kill you?"

The Lich waved a hand, annoyed. "And be quick, woman. I do not have the time to waste hearing your insipid lies."

[Lord_Windy]

"Liber Ivonis, Rin and the present is for Armitage." Veldan squeaked, wishing she could follow Emi under the bookshelves. "And I don't know why you shouldn't kill us. You might have to get rid of those godawful monoliths if you do and I doubt anyone, even one so far gone from what it is to be human, would want to deal with the monoliths as much as we do."

She looked at her hands and unleashed her bright green Mindblade to show the grotesque lich. "But I wasn't lying about being Psionic, I'm far more interesting than most of the others in that regard."

[Kodos]

The moment Veldan said 'godawful monoliths' the Klarkash Ton cut her off.

"Shut up. Monoliths? What monoliths?" It sounded like it might be interested, but it was hard to tell.

[Lord_Windy]

"I...I...I'm sorry," Veldan stuttered at the 'man', "But I don't know what they are and I can't deal with them. Saiza is the only one who had any hands on experience with them I can't deal with it anymore. I feel like my first night away from my father again, I feel like watching Lina die."

Merely looking at her feet now in chaste silence. "I'm sure the others can handle it, but I'm not strong enough to deal with it. Not even you are going to be able to and you're dead"

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza stared, eyes wide and rounded at the Lich before him. He had never seen a lich before, and he wasn't relishing the experience. "Uhhh..."

Okay...that didn't come out right. Try again.

"The monoliths are...uh. Monoliths. Mysterious, dangerous, psion related objects?" He gained some confidence as he spoke. "This doesn't have to be a nasty experience. I'm sure there's all sorts of things we could do to make this work. If you let us borrow the book, have it professionally copied, we could probably work out something worthwhile in exchange. Anything you're interested in? We could give you some information on those monoliths."

[Kodos]

Saiza had barely started talking when Klarkash interrupted. "Shut up you idiot, I know what they are. You have one? You have more than one? Where have you found them? How long have you had them with you? Have you touched them? Have you been having nightmares? Hallucinations?"

The Lich turned its attention to Veldan. "And you; Rin? Rin Shiranui, the demon-whore empress of Kusanagi? Armitage? The Armitage? I had believed he was either dead by now, or at the least still eccentric. It's been well over a century since he went eccentric."

It turned to Mathias. "You. You stink of amateur magic, but magic the same. You are a Wizard and yet did not find it strange that you were tasked to steal a book from me for a woman supposedly as a gift for a man who you ignorant outsiders believe has been dead for over a century? Has the world become so degenerate and backwards since I shed the itchy wet prison of life?"

[Regantor]

Makoto seemed to realize that Emi would have just disturbed the chitine more, and thus fetched the small creature from out of the bookcase herself whilst the others were distracted. The ninja's moves were slow and subtle, acting complacent, but in reality, not missing a single gesture from the powerful rotting humanoid before them. It felt wrong in every single capacity... How could they hope to kill something that was already so utterly dead?...

Ulow wanted to stop Veldan from putting herself on a platter so blatantly, but was frozen in terror gazing into the horrid form of Klarkash. "...R-R-Rin's notta deemon! She's a... She's a goddess!" The small thing managed with great difficultly to break her silence. "If... If you don'd know Fillis, then... then... she's the only reason I'd..."

"Damn black blocks are cursed-er than the one back home. They curse your mind... It feels like the headclaspers, and... Xgoq..." Ulow was torn between a host of burgeoning emotions. This decrepit, disgusting thing was an abomination, but he clearly knew more about the monoliths than any of them. No beating around the bush, he actually knew about things that could help her...

"...Lich... Sir... I'm sorry we broke into hardbox yours, really, budt..." The chitine quickly shoved her way in front of the others, and tried to gain eye contact with it first hand. "Please... Please tell me... Who is idt?... Whadt is idt inside?... I need to... I need to know..."

[Kodos]

"You will silence the Chitine or I shall silence it for you." Klarkash said, without a hint of emotion. "I asked questions. Your lives literally depend on timely and satisfying answers to these questions. Do not waste my time."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"We have one," Saiza said, with more effort than he expected; the words had almost felt stuff in his throat. "In an Ashfied asylum with a psion. A few months. Yes, yes, and I don't think so."

[Kodos]

"A few months? And you've not killed yourself yet? Interesting. I suppose it's possible you are just very stupid - have you tried killing yourself?"

[Lord_Windy]

"I don't know anything about being a demon whore," Veldan sadly said, still looking at her feet so she didn't have to face the horrifying visage of Klarkash. "Or anything about a eccentric wizard. I just know we were asked to get this book as a present for him."

Veldan looked up for a split second only to immediately put it back down. It didn't look any better with time. "And those monoliths, horrifying as they may be I don't want to kill myself just because I have to be around one"

[Kodos]

"It's not about the horror, you idiot. It's about what the window represents, and where it leads to, you simpleton." Klarkash said annoyedly, waving a boney hand dismissively.

"Some atrocities are so profound that the flesh itself remembers them." The abomination gave what appeared to be a shudder. "And some memories outlive even the flesh."

"Tiefling, you will give me the Illithid relic."

[Duskyduck]

"I did find the quest odd, but I could care less. I'm not here because Rin, I'm here because I'm responsible. These people are my friends...but you would not understand." Mathias managed to get his words out. His body had stiffen as soon as Klarkash entered, but as his comrades begun to interact, so did he.

"Saiza, give him the monolith. We can't do anything less if we want to get out alive."

[Kodos]

DUCK HOLY HELL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN

[Regantor]

Ulow continued to gaze right at Klarkash, in the way that one might look at a scab to insure it didn't become infected. Disheartened, disgruntled and a little sickened she was, certainly, but the Chitine had come such a long distance and seen so many awful things in the past few months. Jaded was the only expression that really came across.

"The Liber Ivonis... Whad would you trade for id?" She remarked solemnly, trying to ignore the looks that such a proposition would surely generate. The silhouette of Fillis hung in her mind, always. "These... monolith only few. Believe you wouldn', the things I see..."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Kill myself...?

"How do we know you won't just kill us if we do give it to you now?" Saiza said, trying to keep his tone practical instead of defiant; the goal was not to antagonize the crazy lich. This was their leverage. He might kill them to get what he wanted, but it at least seemed more likely that he'd kill them afterward. And...he...he didn't want...the monolith...of course he would have to give it up. But-

"Let's make a deal."

[Kodos]

The Lich seemed almost amused, judging by the look on its horrible face. "Trade? Deal? Why shouldn't I just kill you and take the Illithid artifact and keep my book?"

[Duskyduck]

"I'll be a bother" Mathias blurted. "We won't be worth your time if you tried to kill us. Who knows what damage we will cause fighting for our lives. I for one know it would be minimal, considering your magical prowess - but it's worst than none at all..."

"You want the Monolith, right? So you know something about the Illithids. But not everything. Perhaps we can lend you a hand in the matter, but we'd be absolutely useless in death and we'd take a few more of your collections with us before we go down" Trying to not sound too challenging, Mathias simply kept up a monotonous voice; "I'm truly just being logical here"

[Kodos]

The Lich made a horrible hollow sound that may have been a laugh. "Hah. You are, or at least pretend to be, a student of the arcane. I am aware of what has happened to Brookhaven. There are precious few libraries left on the surface of this world that have half a collection as vast as my own, at least outside of the private control of Dragons, Eccentrics, or otherwise inhospitable entities. You would not destroy this knowledge."

The Lich waved a withered, mostly skeletal, hand dismissively, bits of leathery, ancient, skin flaking and falling off as he did so. "I have forgotten more about Illithids than you will ever know, boy."

[Regantor]

"-But do you know those things, or did you just read them?" Ulow's emotions began to boil over. What most of them heard was just spiteful, slurred gibberish. The Chintine was relying on this Lich actually knowing undercommon so she could get her point across. "Ever seen an entire village stormed by the headclaspers in the flesh? Ever met the abominations that wander forth in their wake? Or do you really trust the lame, senile, forgetful old drivel writen down here by mere mortals more than your own eyes and ears? You think that if we can get in here, the headclaspers cannot? Your brain is isolated, never mind your damn castle!"

It wasn't a logical or coodinated plan running trough the small woman's head, but she figured he could hardly do worse than kill them. Perhaps, just perhaps, she could make them appear fearsome enough to be valuable. In turn, as always, Ulow had thoughts of sapping information about Fillis on her mind. "So there! You have loads of corpses, we can see that... But, do you get many offers from people to protect your interests outside these walls?"

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza had no idea what Ulow was saying,naturally, but it sounded pretty angry, though too long for just profane cursing. He wished she'd spoken in Common; it was impossible to coordinate some kind of group action without clear communication.

But what the hell kind of action could they take? They could try to get on Klarkash's good side, and hope he'd let them out. Or they could...well...really that was the only option. What were the odds that they could take him down or even successfully run away at this point?

He didn't want to be killed. Not by this thing, not by devils, not by nightmares. But every direction was looking pretty deathy now.

But...maybe there was something he was missing? He scrutinized the lich. Was he as confident as he looked? Or was there any anxiety for the object in his pack or the information inside their heads?

Sense Motive
1d20+4=18 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3317247/)

[Kodos]

The Lich didn't seem to react to Ulow's little rant at all. "The Chitine's shrieking are bothersome. Silence it and give me the Illithid artifact and I may let some of you live."

The Lich seemed pretty confident, as far as Saiza could tell. I suppose being an immortal and nigh-invincible wizard horrorterror builds confidence.

[Duskyduck]

"Saiza. Give him the monolith" Mathias resigned. "Nothing we come up with is something he hasn't formulated a counter to already. He's a lich, and he's been around for far longer than most mortals. We've failed, and we'll be lucky if we are allowed leave...alive"

No hesitation, no doubts. Whatever trace of confidence he had in his companions and himself not utterly crushed beneath the lich's cold, true, logic.

[Kodos]

The Lich gave a Look. "Place it on the ground. I am not a fool. I shall not be touching the artifact until I have studied it at length and from afar."

[Regantor]

Ulow slowly dropped her hands, looking jaded. Either it hadn't understood her undercommon rant, or just outright chose to ignore it. There had to be something they could do to talk their way out of this...

"Mister... please... please lisden to us. You know tha' we know the goddess of Izumo." She felt shame even using that self-given title in such a context. Death could come down on her head all it likes, but just giving up on the others seemed selfish... So she said the one thing none of them were probally willing to sink to for themselves. "S-she's a goddess you knows. Really truely. Wouldn' you want a favour from her glory?"

[Kodos]

The Lich paused for a moment, apparently considering the Chitine's words. "The Shiranui harlot, whatever she calls herself these days, is a Tanar'ri, a Demon. Demons are not known for their trustworthiness. I admit I am intrigued at the prospect of her owing me a favor, but I do not have any confidence that she shall honor her debt to me."

"If I give you the book in exchange for the Illithid artifact and allow you to live, what guarantee do I have that Shiranui shall repay my generosity?"

[Duskyduck]

Well that certainly wasn't expected...

But this could be their ticket out, so he didn't waste any time entertaining about the idea that he had been completely and utterly fooled by Rin. He didn't like it when his capacity for knowledge still left him so vulnerable to coercion and lies...
"You will get the Illithid artifact anyway, and she'll always owe you a favor - repay it or not. Isn't it a good idea to be on good terms, considering her age and influence. Demons are also known to be volatile. They act upon emotions, and at a whim, so one more thing she can remember you by...in a good way?"

[Kodos]

The Lich glared at the group. "I will grant this, however if I am not rendered recompense for my generosity within a reasonable time, I shall begin with your families, then with yourselves, and then with the Tanar'ri bitch. I am immortal, ageless, and require not the prison of sleep or rest. You are not. You could not escape my punishment any more than you could your own shadows."

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza, slowly, barely thinking about his actions, shifted his backpack to the ground. Removed the monolith. It rested between his palms a if it were supposed to be there. Time to get rid of it. Why had he even kept the thing around so long?

As the terror of imminent death by lich poured away, it was replaced with a deep, stone-hard anxiety so deep his bones ached. The threat of death or torture felt...far away. Miniscule. This was a bad situation, but they could still get away, right? They could do it.

No. Don't be crazy, Saiza.

Still, he hugged the cold thing close to his chest. "Here's our piece of the bargain."

[Kodos]

As it did so, it proceeded to cast a spell, summoning forth a skeleton. The skeleton proceeded to move towards one of the other bookcases, out of sight, before returning with what was presumably the book in question. "Place the artifact on the floor, back away from it, and I shall give you the book." Evidently even the Lich was unwilling to touch the monolith.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

Saiza grimaced, feeling the slight weight of the monolith in his arms. He didn't want to let it go. Remarkable, considering.

He took a cautious step forward, placed 'Lithy' on the floor, then moved back, as instructed. So they were either getting the book or losing the monolith and getting killed. Hopefully it was the former.

[Kodos]

FUCKING FINALLY.

The skeleton proceeded to take the monolith with what appeared to be a shudder, before handing Saiza the book.
The Lich waved a hand dismissively. "Now piss off. I have work to do."

***

The trip out was mostly quiet and awkward. When the group returned to the graveyard, at least their horses - and Blueberry - hadn't been eaten by monsters.

Back to Rin, now, I guess? Hopefully she wouldn't mind that they kind of indebted her to a horrible Lich.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

"Well. Hello there Blueberry," Saiza said, and even he was surprised by the unrestrained misery in his voice. They were alive, which was great. First priority on their list. They also had the book. But...

Ugh.

"Least we have the damn thing," he said vaguely, trying to ignore the fact that it the weight of the book in his arms was no replacement for that of the monolith. Who knew what kind of crazy plans the damned lich had planned for it? He wasn't looking forward to explaining to Rin that, by the way, Klarklash wanted payment. She'd might as well have sent him a polite letter asking to borrow the damned thing.

He mounted Blueberry, who was more interested in a clump of tasty grass than his return. "Let's get the hell out of here."

[Regantor]

They were alive, but Ulow felt that using her 'goddess' as a bargaining chip really wasn't worth it somehow. The idea of simply demanding such a burden from her seemed pretty decrepit. Pathetic, even. She suspected the others were thinking the same thing of her, too. Stupid, weak little thing can't even manage not backstabbing her deity, never mind taking care of her only son...

///

Makoto was just annoyed that yet again, they had only just about managed to escape with their lives, and she had barely even removed her blade from the scabbard during the whole ordeal. "Let's just get back to Rin already, guys..."

Distantly, she examined the condition of her horse, then looked around for her miniscule riding partner...

The chitine was several dozen feet away, crouched in the dirt. All of her hands were muddied, and at least one was in her mouth.

It was just all too much. The ninja didn't even want to know what the thing was thinking. Silently, she just pulled Ulow's hands away from her face, and hoisted her up into her arms apathetically.

[Kodos]

Makoto smiled at the little Chitine. "Oh, come on, Ulow. Cheer up. We got the book, no one died, and even our horses and Saiza's mule are okay." She pulled Ulow's hands away from her face again. "And just think of the wonderful reward Rin will have for us when we get back, eh?" She gave Ulow a flirty little wink.

[Regantor]

Ulow appreciated the ninja's sudden change of mood and gave off a bit of a forced smile in return. Even if talking to Rin again would have extra stigma from now on, she could always count on a drink with good ol' Makoto. That was something at least.

An affectionate four-armed hug only got the larger woman a bit muddy, so Ulow quickly flinched away from it again, and concentrated on cleaning up the mess rather than try to think of an upbeat lie she could spout.

"...Sorry Makodo... Bed all'ya good cloths are back in Kisanugi... foolish..."

[Kodos]

As the group made their way back to Kusanagi, they found their nights free of the strange monolith fueled dreams - if indeed dream was the appropriate words.

Still, something wasn't right. That incident, at the library, when Saiza had suddenly screamed and freaked out - there were more. And as time went on, it wasn't just Saiza. Makoto would scream and suddenly find herself holding her nagato, having no recollection of either screaming or drawing her weapon. Likewise with Veldan and her mindblade. It was if they group was seeing something, but forgetting about it.

Then it started happening with Blueberry and the horses - and Emi too.

***

The group was over halfway to Kusanagi when it happened. They saw. They all saw it, this time, and this time it didn't vanish, and they didn't forget.

They knew, somehow. All those times they had reacted and forgotten. This was it. This was what they were seeing.

And it was horrible.

The horror (http://i.imgur.com/pCpZj.jpg) was roughly the size of a large Orc, although it lay on the ground. It's upper body was humanoid in most vague of senses, while its lower body was a writhing mass of oozing tentacles. And it was wrong. So wrong. So horribly, horribly wrong. It felt like Brookhaven. Like the Wrongheads and the Starspawn and the fog and the great and terrible Other. The group knew. They knew in every fiber of their being. This was something wholly and utterly alien. It did not belong here. It did not belong anywhere on the Great Wheel. The very grass beneath their feet seemed almost revulsed by the creature's presence.
And their heads hurt. There was a buzzing sound. In their minds. Like something scratching to get in. Or maybe to get out?

There was no slime-trail behind it, however. As far as the group could tell, the abomination has simply come into being right in front of Saiza, as the were riding.
Blueberry and the horses reacted instantly, before even Makoto could draw her weapon, bucking wildly and generally freaking out. The group managed to stay atop their mounts, but it was obvious they would have dismount quickly if they wanted to engage the horror, as there was no way the animals were going to stay anywhere near the thing.

Surprise round. The creature gets to act next round. Getting off your mount is part of a move action if you move, but if you just want to get off and not move, that's a move action in and of itself. No map because why bother? You're in a field on your horses when BAM! Horror out of nowhere.
INITIATIVE
Saiza = 25 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504609/)
Veldan = 14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504613/)
Ulow = Did not roll. Reg is playing both so for convenience's sake.
Makoto = 10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504608/)
Mathias = Did not roll. Duck is never around so he goes last.

[Alexander_Hamilton]

The terror that whipped through Saiza left a numbed coolness in its wake. It was too much, all put together. After the hell the party had been going through the last few days, the appearance of...this was almost a relief. He staggered off of the bucking Blueberry, who fled back the way they'd come as he slipped on his eagle claws.

Too empty of emotions to panic at what he was about to do, Saiza leaped forward and dug the blades of the metal claws deep into the abomination.
Attack
1d20+11=17 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3514615/)
Damage
5d6=24 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3514634/)

[Regantor]

Ulow didn't seem to believe what it was before her eyes at first, perhaps preferring the explanation that she had instead just finally gone truly, irredeemably insane. The rotten feeling it exuded was all too familiar by now. All too familiar. But just another unwelcome dream.

What made her scream, shiver, and quake was the fact that this time the others seen it too.

She had to resort to begging with herself to stay and face it, not to abandon Saiza. Her legs had pulled her off of the horse, but she wouldn't let them move any further.

If it was already within her head, how could she possibly conceive of fighting it with her powers?

A wispy ball of string gained presence within her hands, almost on it's own. She threw it at the thing, and simply preyed it would make some tiny contribution to slowing it's advance. A prayer for Saiza to change his mind.

Ulow used Entangling Ectoplasm!

1d20+9=22 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3521223/)

It hits!

"An entangled creature moves at half speed, cannot run or charge, and takes a -2 penalty on all attack rolls and a -4 penalty to Dexterity."
The orb of web burst rather satisfactorily and knotted sever of the thing's limbs together. The effect might have looked as pathetic as Ulow felt, but there was just no will within her to fight it at all.

"...Saiza... Pleaze... Pleaze dond fighd... Pleaze dond... Id's already.... Pleaze..."