Post by Rule Hound on Aug 2, 2016 19:35:41 GMT
Galahad the start of a long road
Continuing your activities of assisting Richtor you keep sowing chaos in Trieste. pushing for disunity in the merchant council having them waver back and forth while maneuvering them towards taking Isis's lands and supporting the building of the university.
One night on your return to your body you feel a calling, a drive to be somewhere, to meet someone. You can feel your soul reaching out and your beast rising in anticipation. You feel almost as if it is a calling and promise of power, revenge, glory but yet there are no words tied to this only a feeling deep inside.
You take your Astral form and follow the call, all glorious in your astral image. You travel near the Shield of Safety and notice that you are unable to penetrate the radius Astrally, fortunately the calling is coming from elsewhere. You feel pulled towards First Trento, then Klagenfurt, Then Laibach and lastly Trieste being the strongest. As you drift towards Trieste you appear to be picking up speed, moving faster and faster, more so that is normally possible through Astral Projection. The landscape blurs and becomes dizzying. When you come to rest you find yourself at the crossroads, you recognize the signpost. You stand at the crossroads between the four Duchies. as you look at the sign a fifth direction marker in glowing greenish appears. It simply says "tomorrow - your future". You see a faint game trail lit with greenish faerie flame starting behind a large tree heading off into the distance.
Do you return the next day to follow it? Are you alone?
If he returns
The following night rather than visit Trieste like previous nights you set off from your Haven. Heading towards the Shield of Safety (a convenient excuse should anyone ask), In due time you reach the crossroads, there is no evidence of the 5th direction placard. But searching around and gaining your orientation you are able to locate the particular tree from your "vision".
Looking around behind it you notice a very trail, it may be a game trail or it may not, but you are pretty sure this is the direction you need to head. You travel into the thick bushes for most of the night following the trail. Shortly before dawn you come across a small one bedroom trappers cottage, small maybe 10'x10' no windows and a very solid door.
Going inside you find a Egyptian looking man, in a dark cloak and apparently wearing mummy wrappings. You feel great pride in yourself while in his presence. You konw you can overcome anything. That with the right guidance you could be master over all those pitiful wretches in Gaul. In time you could rise up to take the power and blood from the Ard Rhi himself.
He whispers in a sibilant voice.
"They ssaid you would not come. I knew betterrr. They sssaid you would bring othersss. I sssaid you could sstand on your own.
You are here and ttthhat iss what mattersss. You mussst choose.. Power unlimited can be yoursss, revenge, you can fill your greed, sssatissfy your lussstsss, Drink to your heartsss dessire with no penaltiesss to your beasst. Thisss and much much more.
But desside by next moon risse."
He removes a large gem from his staff (which you did not notice previously) and sets it on the floor before you.
"If you would ssserve none of the weak, ssstand ssstrong, vent your wrath on the fools who would ssssubjugate you, IF you would enjoy the sssplendorsss of the world, place this beneath your sssskin before the moon reaches it'sss zenettthhh tomorrow. It issss a rare night that comessss. Assss the moon ssseetsss it ssshall go dark. You must have desssided before it beginsss.
We will know, you will be called to usss and your journey can begin."
WIth that he stands, steps outside the door and closes it. If you open the door he is simply not there, gone. Auspex does not show him obfuscated anywhere.
If Galahad puts the gem under his skin
ST Note: When the gem is placed under his skin as per normal the gem itself just "dissolves" into his vitae allowing him access to the gates. With practice and focus he can teleport to locations within a few mile radius of the skull teleporters. He can focus on a know location and do a test to arrive there if it is within the range with a static test. He can only travel directly to a skull chamber if he is intimately familiar with it.
You press the gem to your arm as you press it breaks the skin it is drawn in. In what is but a moment in reality seems to be several minutes to you. Your "soul" is ripped through a hellish land with demon faces and arms reaching out to you, screaming and hungering for flesh and mind. You begin to realize that there is a slight greenish glow surrounding you, if it wasn't for this you are sure that your mind would be ravished and your beast laid bare to these hungering things. As it is however they seem to be paying more homage to you, whispering how they can serve you, grant you power aid you in becoming supreme.
You come back to yourself sitting in the cottage. Something must have gone wrong. You are where you were before. But as you look closer you notice that though almost identical the cottage is slightly different. The wood is not of the same cut or type, the boards not quite the same size... You stand up, open the door and step out into a large cavern. The hut is at a back wall in a small nook.
Walking farther out into the cavern you notice that there are several individuals around, as you try to take note of them your attention is inextricably drawn and focused on just one. A "man" you recognize as Nicomedes.
The ritual begins (If you want ot let us know if you stop at any point and do not go forward with the ritual)
Raising his hands to the roof he begins intoning in a gutteral, harsh voice something that does not naturally originate from the tongue of man.
Nah glahk grickk ne shatas... hjlk dis, nignaakk criaaaqqu.
You begin to understand the words
Great divine one, before you comes a new servant, to replace the ones lost through his hand. He is here to offer up his soul for your return, to help you rise again and be born again to this world. He offers himself as sacrifice in the hopes of rebirth of greater power in his immortality.
He offers his worldly possessions to you, signified by the clothes on his back.
[you sense two individuals step up behind you while a third kneels before you with a large wavy bladed dagger. You instinctively understand that you are to cut of your clothes and hand them to the two behind you]
You take the dagger in your hand and cut, the blade so sharp that the merest swipe cuts the leathers, furs and other materials from your body.
[the two behind you collect your clothes and walk them forth the Nicomedes. He takes them in his hands raises them up and hurls them into a great pit you only now take notice of. Green hellish flame reaches up in a tongue to consume them]
So he stands before you, naked of all Pride. But yet look.
[As you stand there you see two beautiful women come forth, sinuous, sleek and the epitome of beauty, so much so that even your undead form feels itself involuntarily stirring and you feel blood being redirected. They come up and one goes to her knees grabbing your manhood the other gently takes the knife from you, you know what is coming but also know it is necessary]
Take from his his mortal desires, his yearnings of the flesh.
[with a lightning flash the second woman slashes the knife down. The first woman takes your severed appendage and brings it again to Nicomedes.]
He gives unto you what was his, he sacrifices his lusts in your name great one.
[He hurls your appendages at the pit and again a green flame consumes them]
But he still has more to offer you, see how he looks on my greatness, how in his eyes he envies me, wishes he was standing where I now stand.
[with unnatural speed and strength the second woman whom you had forgotten about runs the knife through both your ankles severing your feet causing you to drop to your knees and then to sit with your legs in front of you on your but. She then quite casually lays the knife before you and picks up your feet and brings them to Nicomedes who then hurls them above the pit. Two green flames lick out to take a foot each]
And so his resentful longings are also sacrificed, leaving him humble before you. But yet he tries not to show it he still feels he is worth something, he thinks in his decrepitude that he will be rewarded for his sacrifices. I can see in his mind the great wealth he has coveted that he yet still desires, that he wills to be his. The Greed in his soul almost shames me.
But feat not, I can cure him of this to, in your service he has no need to be so covetous. He shall not need to be so grasping.
[with that another individual comes forth. You place your hands to the side on the ground in an attempt to rise but as both hands line up a great headsman sword decends, severing both hands. Laughing maniacally the "headsman" picks up your hands and passes them to Nicomedes. Nicomedes then removes all the bejeweled rings, and one by one feeds them to the pit, each time another green flame licking up to consume your wealth.]
A big man, one who enjoys his deserts and feasts, one who is not used to going hungry. It was this that led him to our door, to the destruction of your servants. Such a gluttonous hunger serves not the one who holds it.
[One of the beautiful women return and pick up the knife. She pushes you onto your back and deftly removes the shriveled thing that was once your stomach. then bring it forward]
[As Nicomedes takes your stomach for what you are sure is a trip to the pit he looks at you.]
You recline? You dare show such laziness? for that you shall not have your hands back.
Great one! he offers up the things that granted him his mortal weaknesses. Take these offerings and help cleanse his soul of such blasphemy.
[you struggle with the stumps of your arms to push yourself up onto your knees, the anger rises within you. This is not what you came for, you did not come to be carved up, to be the but of some joke. Gathering your will and powering your blood into your limbs they begin sealing. You might have no feet and hands but that will not stop you.]
Nicomedes looks at you. Ahhh, there it is, Anger, come to the fore. Hatred, Wrath. He seeks to destroy me, he finally finds some inkling of power in himself.
Shall we give his eyes to you master, can you not see the ember of fury burning, ready to lash out? Or shall we see if he has it in him. Can he channel this undying emotion and use it to grant him what he desires?
[In your voice a horrible voice comes to you.]
I am all, I can offer you that which others can not. Give yourself unto me and I shall remake you. I shall show you how you can earn the power you desire. Give unto me your very being, your soul, your beast your last mortal sin. In my bosom you shall suckle and find unhindered strength.
[Give to me and I shall give back. You understand that this "being" is asking you to sacrifice your soul to it, that to do so involves sacrificing yourself to the pit before you]
If he does
You crawl your way to the edge of the pit, looking in you see bodies, some dead and some possibly alive writhing in agony. You see maggot like creatures and huge a eye made of green flame looking at you. Judging you, waiting to devour your soul.
Your beast cowers in fear but has been so depleted that it can not gain enough control to force you to flee. You keep moving forward. As you reach the edge you scream. I give myself to you, I offer my soul to your cause, to your rebirth. Grant me power over my enemies, over all others. Grant me rebirth in your armies.
And so you tumble into the pit.
You eventually awaken in the shack. to find yourself clothed in what you were previously wearing, all your appendages returned, jewelry in place.
A voice reaches out to you.
"I have granted your rebirth, but you shall have to show me your worth before I grant you my gifts. A service performed offers a reward. Someone has begun a corruption that can be turned to serve my will. To open a gate through my realm requires corruption and sacrifice of purity. You shall seek out and find someone of True Faith, once you have them you shall bring them here. We shall be using them to serve our purposes. Bring them to this shack and I shall teach you what needs to be done. How to sacrifice them and what rituals to perform to open a way."
[As a last note, it is ingrained in your understanding that this Demon now owns your soul, They can punish or reward you at will. They can grant you gifts for service or take them away for failure. To talk about this to anyone and let them know you now serve another master would be to compromise them and that is not allowed. you also understand that though you serve you are also more free than you have ever been before. You effectively hold a 3 point blood bond to the demon master and as such no other 3 point bonds can take hold, any previous bonds (including a 3 point if you had one) is wiped away. You can hold lesser bonds (2pt and 1pt) but they are able to be ignored if it is in service to your new master.]
As a st note we will help guide you on things to do and then let you come up with ways to do them. the more you do the more infernal rewards you will get. We will also help with some suggestions of how you can use your "relationship" with Raqa and the others to serve your purposes while making them think you are just serving theirs.
Continuing your activities of assisting Richtor you keep sowing chaos in Trieste. pushing for disunity in the merchant council having them waver back and forth while maneuvering them towards taking Isis's lands and supporting the building of the university.
One night on your return to your body you feel a calling, a drive to be somewhere, to meet someone. You can feel your soul reaching out and your beast rising in anticipation. You feel almost as if it is a calling and promise of power, revenge, glory but yet there are no words tied to this only a feeling deep inside.
You take your Astral form and follow the call, all glorious in your astral image. You travel near the Shield of Safety and notice that you are unable to penetrate the radius Astrally, fortunately the calling is coming from elsewhere. You feel pulled towards First Trento, then Klagenfurt, Then Laibach and lastly Trieste being the strongest. As you drift towards Trieste you appear to be picking up speed, moving faster and faster, more so that is normally possible through Astral Projection. The landscape blurs and becomes dizzying. When you come to rest you find yourself at the crossroads, you recognize the signpost. You stand at the crossroads between the four Duchies. as you look at the sign a fifth direction marker in glowing greenish appears. It simply says "tomorrow - your future". You see a faint game trail lit with greenish faerie flame starting behind a large tree heading off into the distance.
Do you return the next day to follow it? Are you alone?
If he returns
The following night rather than visit Trieste like previous nights you set off from your Haven. Heading towards the Shield of Safety (a convenient excuse should anyone ask), In due time you reach the crossroads, there is no evidence of the 5th direction placard. But searching around and gaining your orientation you are able to locate the particular tree from your "vision".
Looking around behind it you notice a very trail, it may be a game trail or it may not, but you are pretty sure this is the direction you need to head. You travel into the thick bushes for most of the night following the trail. Shortly before dawn you come across a small one bedroom trappers cottage, small maybe 10'x10' no windows and a very solid door.
Going inside you find a Egyptian looking man, in a dark cloak and apparently wearing mummy wrappings. You feel great pride in yourself while in his presence. You konw you can overcome anything. That with the right guidance you could be master over all those pitiful wretches in Gaul. In time you could rise up to take the power and blood from the Ard Rhi himself.
He whispers in a sibilant voice.
"They ssaid you would not come. I knew betterrr. They sssaid you would bring othersss. I sssaid you could sstand on your own.
You are here and ttthhat iss what mattersss. You mussst choose.. Power unlimited can be yoursss, revenge, you can fill your greed, sssatissfy your lussstsss, Drink to your heartsss dessire with no penaltiesss to your beasst. Thisss and much much more.
But desside by next moon risse."
He removes a large gem from his staff (which you did not notice previously) and sets it on the floor before you.
"If you would ssserve none of the weak, ssstand ssstrong, vent your wrath on the fools who would ssssubjugate you, IF you would enjoy the sssplendorsss of the world, place this beneath your sssskin before the moon reaches it'sss zenettthhh tomorrow. It issss a rare night that comessss. Assss the moon ssseetsss it ssshall go dark. You must have desssided before it beginsss.
We will know, you will be called to usss and your journey can begin."
WIth that he stands, steps outside the door and closes it. If you open the door he is simply not there, gone. Auspex does not show him obfuscated anywhere.
If Galahad puts the gem under his skin
ST Note: When the gem is placed under his skin as per normal the gem itself just "dissolves" into his vitae allowing him access to the gates. With practice and focus he can teleport to locations within a few mile radius of the skull teleporters. He can focus on a know location and do a test to arrive there if it is within the range with a static test. He can only travel directly to a skull chamber if he is intimately familiar with it.
You press the gem to your arm as you press it breaks the skin it is drawn in. In what is but a moment in reality seems to be several minutes to you. Your "soul" is ripped through a hellish land with demon faces and arms reaching out to you, screaming and hungering for flesh and mind. You begin to realize that there is a slight greenish glow surrounding you, if it wasn't for this you are sure that your mind would be ravished and your beast laid bare to these hungering things. As it is however they seem to be paying more homage to you, whispering how they can serve you, grant you power aid you in becoming supreme.
You come back to yourself sitting in the cottage. Something must have gone wrong. You are where you were before. But as you look closer you notice that though almost identical the cottage is slightly different. The wood is not of the same cut or type, the boards not quite the same size... You stand up, open the door and step out into a large cavern. The hut is at a back wall in a small nook.
Walking farther out into the cavern you notice that there are several individuals around, as you try to take note of them your attention is inextricably drawn and focused on just one. A "man" you recognize as Nicomedes.
The ritual begins (If you want ot let us know if you stop at any point and do not go forward with the ritual)
Raising his hands to the roof he begins intoning in a gutteral, harsh voice something that does not naturally originate from the tongue of man.
Nah glahk grickk ne shatas... hjlk dis, nignaakk criaaaqqu.
You begin to understand the words
Great divine one, before you comes a new servant, to replace the ones lost through his hand. He is here to offer up his soul for your return, to help you rise again and be born again to this world. He offers himself as sacrifice in the hopes of rebirth of greater power in his immortality.
He offers his worldly possessions to you, signified by the clothes on his back.
[you sense two individuals step up behind you while a third kneels before you with a large wavy bladed dagger. You instinctively understand that you are to cut of your clothes and hand them to the two behind you]
You take the dagger in your hand and cut, the blade so sharp that the merest swipe cuts the leathers, furs and other materials from your body.
[the two behind you collect your clothes and walk them forth the Nicomedes. He takes them in his hands raises them up and hurls them into a great pit you only now take notice of. Green hellish flame reaches up in a tongue to consume them]
So he stands before you, naked of all Pride. But yet look.
[As you stand there you see two beautiful women come forth, sinuous, sleek and the epitome of beauty, so much so that even your undead form feels itself involuntarily stirring and you feel blood being redirected. They come up and one goes to her knees grabbing your manhood the other gently takes the knife from you, you know what is coming but also know it is necessary]
Take from his his mortal desires, his yearnings of the flesh.
[with a lightning flash the second woman slashes the knife down. The first woman takes your severed appendage and brings it again to Nicomedes.]
He gives unto you what was his, he sacrifices his lusts in your name great one.
[He hurls your appendages at the pit and again a green flame consumes them]
But he still has more to offer you, see how he looks on my greatness, how in his eyes he envies me, wishes he was standing where I now stand.
[with unnatural speed and strength the second woman whom you had forgotten about runs the knife through both your ankles severing your feet causing you to drop to your knees and then to sit with your legs in front of you on your but. She then quite casually lays the knife before you and picks up your feet and brings them to Nicomedes who then hurls them above the pit. Two green flames lick out to take a foot each]
And so his resentful longings are also sacrificed, leaving him humble before you. But yet he tries not to show it he still feels he is worth something, he thinks in his decrepitude that he will be rewarded for his sacrifices. I can see in his mind the great wealth he has coveted that he yet still desires, that he wills to be his. The Greed in his soul almost shames me.
But feat not, I can cure him of this to, in your service he has no need to be so covetous. He shall not need to be so grasping.
[with that another individual comes forth. You place your hands to the side on the ground in an attempt to rise but as both hands line up a great headsman sword decends, severing both hands. Laughing maniacally the "headsman" picks up your hands and passes them to Nicomedes. Nicomedes then removes all the bejeweled rings, and one by one feeds them to the pit, each time another green flame licking up to consume your wealth.]
A big man, one who enjoys his deserts and feasts, one who is not used to going hungry. It was this that led him to our door, to the destruction of your servants. Such a gluttonous hunger serves not the one who holds it.
[One of the beautiful women return and pick up the knife. She pushes you onto your back and deftly removes the shriveled thing that was once your stomach. then bring it forward]
[As Nicomedes takes your stomach for what you are sure is a trip to the pit he looks at you.]
You recline? You dare show such laziness? for that you shall not have your hands back.
Great one! he offers up the things that granted him his mortal weaknesses. Take these offerings and help cleanse his soul of such blasphemy.
[you struggle with the stumps of your arms to push yourself up onto your knees, the anger rises within you. This is not what you came for, you did not come to be carved up, to be the but of some joke. Gathering your will and powering your blood into your limbs they begin sealing. You might have no feet and hands but that will not stop you.]
Nicomedes looks at you. Ahhh, there it is, Anger, come to the fore. Hatred, Wrath. He seeks to destroy me, he finally finds some inkling of power in himself.
Shall we give his eyes to you master, can you not see the ember of fury burning, ready to lash out? Or shall we see if he has it in him. Can he channel this undying emotion and use it to grant him what he desires?
[In your voice a horrible voice comes to you.]
I am all, I can offer you that which others can not. Give yourself unto me and I shall remake you. I shall show you how you can earn the power you desire. Give unto me your very being, your soul, your beast your last mortal sin. In my bosom you shall suckle and find unhindered strength.
[Give to me and I shall give back. You understand that this "being" is asking you to sacrifice your soul to it, that to do so involves sacrificing yourself to the pit before you]
If he does
You crawl your way to the edge of the pit, looking in you see bodies, some dead and some possibly alive writhing in agony. You see maggot like creatures and huge a eye made of green flame looking at you. Judging you, waiting to devour your soul.
Your beast cowers in fear but has been so depleted that it can not gain enough control to force you to flee. You keep moving forward. As you reach the edge you scream. I give myself to you, I offer my soul to your cause, to your rebirth. Grant me power over my enemies, over all others. Grant me rebirth in your armies.
And so you tumble into the pit.
You eventually awaken in the shack. to find yourself clothed in what you were previously wearing, all your appendages returned, jewelry in place.
A voice reaches out to you.
"I have granted your rebirth, but you shall have to show me your worth before I grant you my gifts. A service performed offers a reward. Someone has begun a corruption that can be turned to serve my will. To open a gate through my realm requires corruption and sacrifice of purity. You shall seek out and find someone of True Faith, once you have them you shall bring them here. We shall be using them to serve our purposes. Bring them to this shack and I shall teach you what needs to be done. How to sacrifice them and what rituals to perform to open a way."
[As a last note, it is ingrained in your understanding that this Demon now owns your soul, They can punish or reward you at will. They can grant you gifts for service or take them away for failure. To talk about this to anyone and let them know you now serve another master would be to compromise them and that is not allowed. you also understand that though you serve you are also more free than you have ever been before. You effectively hold a 3 point blood bond to the demon master and as such no other 3 point bonds can take hold, any previous bonds (including a 3 point if you had one) is wiped away. You can hold lesser bonds (2pt and 1pt) but they are able to be ignored if it is in service to your new master.]
As a st note we will help guide you on things to do and then let you come up with ways to do them. the more you do the more infernal rewards you will get. We will also help with some suggestions of how you can use your "relationship" with Raqa and the others to serve your purposes while making them think you are just serving theirs.