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Dawn of Magic
No absences again! The cast: Bonnie ("Leif"), Marc ("Mushamee"), Martin ("Kaeso"), Mike ("Rufus"), and Stéphane ("Vinz").
Time: Night, Odin 21, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Teclá, atop the sacred pyramid rising out of the ground in Spirit Anaconda's temple complex.
Last Event: Defeating creepy guardians and beating the blood clock to solve the puzzle of the five-part rod.
Spirit Anaconda races up the pyramid steps and greets the party enthusiastically. They immediately query him about the nature of their quest on his behalf. He answers them without hesitation: He knew of the pyramid, which increases his influence over the domain of Death, but was also aware that his powers would not work in the catacombs beneath his holy city. Thus, he sent his champions to procure for him that which he could not acquire on his own. Mushamee gracefully acknowledges this and then requests Spirit Anaconda’s military cooperation in return for this favor, per their earlier bargain.
Unsurprisingly, the high priest answers the question with a question: Would the heroes prefer a gift of personal power from his gods or that he deal with Black Adolph directly, on the group’s behalf? This raises the question of what he means by each option. He replies that this is unknowable – the results of either choice could take a thousand different turns. None of the specific examples he gives seem especially plausible. “His” champions ask for time to decide. Spirit Anaconda says that they have until sunrise.
Kaeso, Mushamee, and Vinz step aside to discuss this matter. There is some division over which choice would be wisest. Kaeso proceeds to whip out a couple of Elixirs of Foresight and meditate on both paths. He sees taking personal power as leading to virtual immortality . . . as Spirit Anaconda’s forces dominate the world. His second vision – of the high priest’s aid against Black Adolph – is one of standing at Adolph’s side, as a friend or a lieutenant, as the world ends and the Starfish-Men prevail. Neither outcome seems encouraging.
Leif, not one to think on deep matters, spends this time healing Rufus, who is of course in terrible shape. Eventually, Leif and Rufus join the others and cast their lots. The final consensus is to have Spirit Anaconda deal with Black Adolph. Personal power looks all too much like a temptation – a test – whereas defusing the Black Adolph situation is a puzzle to which nobody present can offer a solution.
Mushamee delivers the collective decision to Spirit Anaconda. To the adventurers’ surprise, Spirit Anaconda agrees to take care of the matter at once. He says he will go forth in spirit, and that the heroes must meditate on the desired outcome of the negotiations to guide his hand. Abruptly, he steps out of his body in spectral form and blows off on the winds. Temple functionaries bring a bitter tea to aid the party’s efforts, and explain that no one may sleep until their master returns.
Accordingly, the heroes spend the night in deep meditation. Each resorts to a different technique, with Vinz directing his chi, Rufus focusing his mind in a less-mystical manner learned in the arena years before, Leif employing shamanic methods, and Kaeso and Mushamee relying on raw will and desire. All five feel a bond form with Spirit Anaconda. They direct strong karmic forces his way, experiencing a palpable feeling of communion and personal sacrifice as they do.
Spirit Anaconda’s body stirs again at dawn on Odin 22, even as the adventurers’ concentration is flagging. Resuming conversation as if he hadn’t been gone eight hours, he explains to the group that his negotiations went very well, thanks to their mystical support. He explains that he and Black Adolph made a treaty: Adolph will support the mortal world’s war against its foes in this Age in return for him being left to act unobstructed in mortal lands in the next Age. It’s a tricky bargain, but it puts war with Adolph in the distant future, after creation is saved from a force bent not on mere conquest, but destruction.
With that, the heroes get ready to depart Teclá for Tenosia. Before they do, Vinz meets with Spirit Anaconda privately. He asks about the high priest’s earlier request for aid against the forces of Teclá’s merchant caste. Spirit Anaconda informs Vinz that this is now unnecessary. With his newly strengthened holy powers – thanks to the pyramid – he doesn’t need that temporal victory to ensure his spiritual one. Vinz isn’t entirely comfortable with that, but at least it’s a straight answer . . .
Another matter of concern before leaving is that of Rufus’ wounds. Leif has done what he can. Spirit Anaconda claims that he can take care of the rest. Without warning, he winds up and hurls Rufus off the pyramid. Rufus hits the ground hard. When he pulls himself out of the mud, however, he realizes that he’s quite healed, his only remaining injuries being a few bruises from the fall. The high priest certainly has a way with healing.
Finally, it’s truly time to return to Tenosia. There's just one small detail: Spirit Anaconda shut the portal shortly after the group's arrival. When asked to reverse this, it turns out that he cannot. This is the cause of great frustration. Fortunately, Leif is on good terms with Kerim Khan, sovereign of the air elementals. Leif visits the Realm of Air and returns with the elemental king, who says he can whisk Leif and friends home in a vortex of air – much as he transported them to the islands to the east many months earlier.
To stay in touch, Spirit Anaconda presents Kaeso with a small weasel named Three Smokes. He forms a bond with the creature, and informs Kaeso that it can communicate by scratching out letters in the dirt with its claws. Leif can also speak with the creature, which is somewhat more efficient.
With all remaining business resolved, the adventurers bid Spirit Anaconda adieu and board Kerim Khan’s air vortex. The journey, while unnerving, is uneventful. Three days later – on Odin 25 – the swirling funnel sets down at Tenosia’s former earthly location. The travelers step through the portal there that leads to the city's present home in a giant cavern deep beneath the Starfish-Man realm.
The first order of business is to inform Hippolyte of recent developments regarding the Black Adolph situation. This quickly turns into a strategy meeting – specifically, a discussion of how to best use Adolph’s assistance against the Starfish-Men. After many hours, the conclusion is that the best possible strategy would be to draw the Starfish-Man legions into the mortal world, shut the door, and try to defeat them quickly on friendly ground. The eventual plan has three main parts:
1. A lure tempting enough to bring all of the Starfish-Man forces – or all but a small reserve – through a portal. The best bet looks to be grouping all of the mortal world’s most supernaturally important leaders in one location. This means Emperor Nicolai, the Asok, Hippolyte, Recnam, Spirit Anaconda, the Harb, and any other figure that the enemy's sorcerers could sacrifice to acquire the vast amount of energy they need to tear a permanent hole between worlds.
3. A hidden force to tip the balance once the fighting begins, but that can remain hidden until then so that the initial lure won’t seem like an obvious trap. Leif proposes that the world’s allied forces play at being hostile to Black Adolph’s army, so that Starfish-Man spies won’t be aware that the two sides are in fact allies. To make the ruse work, Rufus will pass word of an alliance against Adolph to the least-reliable spies in his network. Mushamee notes that the demon lord who vowed his assistance against the Starfish-Men would also be unknown to them, and thus valuable for this part of the plan.
Hippolyte sees this plan as workable, but estimates that it needs to be put into action in at most three weeks, as her oracular insights lead her to believe that anything longer would invite discovery by enemy diviners and spies. This in turn leads to discussions of what to do next. Immediate tasks are Hippolyte and Mushamee mobilizing their allies and meeting secretly with Black Adolph to discuss strategy, Rufus passing disinformation through his spy network, Leif journeying North to convince the earth and water elementals there to help him procure the “black metal” ore under the frozen sea, and Kaeso finishing several “special projects,” some of which will need that ore.