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Logged and edited by the Doctor
8-Jan-2007

DM: the Doctor
PCs: Anayra, Chaza, Faiza (DMPC), Lugh, Salana

Summary: the PCs visit the Temple of Despair and talk to the Okt about the
Curse. The price for the info is a kiss from a succubus.
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So, the group has set out from the Ark on a third visit to the Temple of
Despair, this time to learn what the undead priests have to say about the
Ark's Curse, now that they've had time and samples to study...

Only an hour or two into morning, the adventurers ran afoul of a deceitful
beast lurking in a pond. Defeating the beast, they then had some minor trouble
with leeches...

[OOC note: this trip was played over two sessions. The previous session was
not logged.]

Anayra has 'dressed' again and returned to the group. She's pointedly ignoring
Lugh right now, and has her hood up and her cloak pulled closed around herself.

Lugh chuckles a little bit, "What sort of finds did you get? I noticed a few
gems in that pile." this he says while doing his best to makeshift the graves
for the poor souls that had died to the tailhand monster.

Faiza straightens her clothes, wringing water out of the bottom of her skirt.
She puts her hat (about the only dry piece of clothing she has now) back on
her head and moves out from behind the tree to rejoin the others. "The day
isn't getting any younger..."

Chaza nods. "Lets get moving."

Salana continues on with the others as she did before. She senses the party's
quitness and remains so herself for the mostpart, blade at the ready and
shield on her arm.

Anayra moves off ahead to take point once more...

Faiza stays towards the middle, keeping her hands free in case they come to
any new danger.

So it's back to your route through the forest, an almost familiar one now for
those who have been there before. The sun burns away the last of the mist...

Chaza smiles, pausing in a ray of sunshine for a moment, enjoying the touch of
Pelor. "An auspicious sign." he murmurs.

Salana says "Let us hope so. I'm not so affective a fighter against the undea
as I am the living. I'd rather not force a confrentation if we don't have to."

Lugh follows the group once they finish the burials, and get things on the
move again. "Excellent use of the bats and rats, Faiza." he tells her once he
catches up.

Faiza glances up at the sky, shading her eyes as she glances at the sun. "Let
it be so. Perhaps it means your god does not disapprove of our venture. Though
I hope it is not a sign that he means us to smite these other priests... I'd
rather it simply be the weather..." She glances over at Lugh and smiles at his
praise. "They are only small things, but the creature took them for
reality...or reality enough!"

Chaza shrugs a little. "We will know more once we get back."

Anayra, scouting ahead and making only occassional appearances to make sure
she's not gotten separated from the group (and vice-versa), doesn't add to the
ongoing covnersation.

The day wears on, the sky staying clear, the temperature dropping with a shift
in the wind. Still, the exertion of walking probably keeps the group warm. By
late afternoon, without further excitement, you reach the ruins of the temple.

The Doctor sets the room desc to:

A slightly younger section of the woods. The trees aren't as towering, and
sunlight still shines through into a small clearing. On closer inspection, you
see the remains of the foundation, and parts of the wall, of a stone,
rectangular building. Most of it is overgrown with vines and weeds. A sizeable
tree has grown up in one corner.

Lugh says "This must be it, I assume?"

Chaza nods quietly. "This is it.. We enter over there..."

Anayra is waiting for the party, stepping out of her concealed location along
the trail when the come close. She lets Chaza take the lead, now, moving to
follow a step behind and a bit to his right.

Chaza steps to the entrance, and nods his head, then recites the phrase.
"Despair is the shadow of hope."

Faiza looks around, checking the landmarks against her memory. "A hole in the
ground over there, and..." Her glance follows Chaza. "A secret door over
there, right."

A few moments after the words are spoken, the slab slides open, revealing the
stairs down to the underground temple.

Chaza starts down the stairs, leading the way. "This way."

Salana follows after Ana and Chaza, eyes squinting in the gloom.

Anayra steps down with Chaza... drawing no weapons as she goes.

Faiza nods to Lugh, whispering, "Come on...it's a skeleton that talks!" as she
follows after the others. "He has skeleton dogs, too..."

And so he does. The Okt stands in the corridor to greet the visitors,
accompanied as before by the dogs. "Ah, the visitors from the Ark. You return."

Chaza nods to Faiza, and steps forward. "Greetings, Okt."

Anayra's eyes are drawn to the Okt's hands... she's too busy hoping there's
something left of her friend to be paying her usual attention to her
surroundings.

Salana stares around and at the Okt with wide eyes. Her breathing is abit
rapid and she's obviously on edge.

Chaza glances back a bit, thinking he sees something back there. He ceeds to
Anayra, since his friend is the cause for being here.

Lugh 's bright green eyes peer into the dimly lit temple, his eyes looking
about inquisitive interest at any arcane symbology he might find. While he's
not much into necromancy, the inherent magical principles are nevertheless
interesting.

The Okt regards each of you in turn, gaze lingering longest on Lugh and
Salana, whom he has not met before. Then his head bows, and he says, "Much
have I gleaned from the fragment of he who fell to your Curse. For the
sacrifice of his wing and for the knowledge I thank you. This much I can tell
you now: the Curse is strong, but it is not stronger than your souls. He who
fell is not bound to the Curse any more. His soul continues his journey. No
shadow of undeath falls upon him. That is my first answer to what binds you.
If you dare to let go your life, you are freed."

Chaza nods quietly to the Okt. "So it will not affect us when we die. Is there
a way to break it?"

Anayra remains quiet, looking at the floor for a moment at mention of
sacrifice of Grim's wing.

Faiza looks a bit glum at the Okt's answer. She bites her lips and holds her
comments to herself.

Salana listens and blinks abit. "This is not truely helpful for me. On my
world there is no real afterlife to move on too. It's kind of a..bleak
grayness rules by our god of death. Not great."

The Okt says, "I have learned other things. But if you wish me to speak, there
is yet another price. A high one, yet not one I ask for myself, but for one I
call friend. Understand, I do not ask it lightly, but rather that the price
shall not fall on some innocent head."

Anayra looks up, now, a frown on her face. "I've paid a heavier price,
already, than I'm sure you know", she says to Okt. "Name your price, and we
will take it to those who have the right to decide if it is to be paid."

Faiza makes a face, apparently misliking this talk of heavy prices paid to the
undead. She mutters, "Maybe we can just figure it out, ourselves. The dead
naturally do not sympathize with the living..."

Lugh has nothing to say on the matter. It is a sad thing what happened to Grim.

Salana says "First just tell us what this price is. Then maybe we can decide
here and now."

Chaza frowns slightly.. wondering if this 'price' is something related to this
shadow he spotted in the back.

The cloaked skeleton, this Okr sur Khrando, lifts his right hand. He gestures,
and the shadow in the chamber behind him reveals herself, walking up to smile
sardonically at the visitors. It is Adina, who some weeks ago declared herself
the Okt's agent aboard the Ark. She is, as before, a human-looking with long
black hair, light skin, great beauty, and much black leather. "Come now, my
friend. It's a small thing, nothing they can't afford." Her eyes sweep over
the group. "A kiss, one kiss, that's all I ask."

Salana blinks and frowns. "A kiss? What's this then. A normal kiss is no great
price..what's the real story behind this kiss?"

Anayra frowns. "What will this 'kiss' of yours do to the person with whom you
share it?", she asks. "You will allow me to use the Dancer's Sight to discern
if you have malicious intent, of course", she adds, making it clearly a
statement and not a request.

Chaza looks at Adina. "Yes. What.. will this kiss do? For a kiss alone cannot
be a heavy price. Indeed, in most towns you can buy far more than a kiss for a
handful of copper."

Adina nods to Anayra. "You may." To Salana, "Did I say it was a normal kiss?
It is /my/ kiss. It will not cause pain. It will not wound you. If it weakens
you for more than a night, it is still strength that you may recover in time.
It will not make you other than what you are, do not fear that. It is only one
kiss that I ask: do not ask any more of me!"

Chaza frowns slightly. 'You did not give a straight forward answer.' he says,
bothered immensely by this.

Salana steps forward. "I will pay the price then. For the good of the Ark."

Faiza steps forward and grabs at Salana's arm. "No, wait! It was my
curiousity. I wanted to know...I will pay. It's just one kiss, how bad can it
be?"

Chaza shakes his head to Salana and Faiza. "No. I would not trust this without
a clear answer. What sort of weakening.. and what effect that weakening will
have on her."

Anayra shakes her head. "No... it is some sort of draining effect, is my best
guess. I know not what will be taken or how temporary or permanent a thing it
will be, but that is my best guess at this point in time. You should know for
what you're volunteering", she says to Salana and Faiza, standing in their way.

Adina smiles. "It is nothing you cannot afford to lose. But the choice is, of
course, yours." She bows to the Okt. "I would ask it of him, but he has
nothing of life in his bones anymore, only undead duty."

Faiza sighs. "Haggle, haggle. Did you know what you were buying when you came
out of your mother's womb?" She starts to move forward.

Game: Chaza casts the level 1 cleric spell detect_undead. Base DC for saving
throws: 14.
Chaza murmurs softly for a moment and touches the emblem about his neck.. He
knows the Okt and the two dogs will showas undead.. but his is curious about
the woman.

Game: <OPEN ROLL> Salana rolls for initiative at 0 (plus a base mod of +3) and
scores a 9<6>.
Game: <OPEN ROLL> Faiza rolls for initiative at 0 (plus a base mod of +3) and
scores a 16<13>.
Game: <OPEN ROLL> Chaza rolls for initiative at 0 (plus a base mod of +0) and
scores a 7<7>.

Lugh reaches out to hold the hem of Faiza's garment, and try to keep her from
the poisonous kiss.

Game: <OPEN ROLL> Faiza makes a skill roll (tumble) at a modifier of  +5 skill
ranks + 0 synergy bonus + 0 race/class/other mod + 3 abil mod  + 0 other feats
- 0 Armor penalty + 0 other adjustments and gets a: 26 (18)
Game: <OPEN ROLL> Anayra makes a skill roll (tumble) at a modifier of  +7
skill ranks + 2 synergy bonus + 0 race/class/other mod + 6 abil mod  + 0 other
feats - 0 Armor penalty + 0 other adjustments and gets a: 21 (6)

<OOC> Salana says, "Sorry folks I need to head out. :/ Can't keep eyes open."

Seeing her companions reaching to stop her, Faiza grumbles and dives to the
ground in a complicated, twisting maneuver that rolls her under Anayra's arm
and past her straight to Adina, barely managing to stop herself before she
rams into the other. "Right. One kiss!"

Adina nods, lightly reaching over, taking Faiza's face between her hands, and
kissing her long and deeply on the mouth...

Salana has disconnected.

Faiza goes all wobbly-kneed at the kiss. When Adina releases her, Faiza
collapses, staring dreamily up at the strange woman. Adina laughs, her eyes
sparkling with new vigor. She bows to the others. "Only one, I said!" before
she goes poof.

The Okt nods. "The price is paid. I will speak."

Anayra frowns and steps forward to gather up Faiza by under the woman's arms,
to drag her back and away.

Faiza makes no resistance, now.

Lugh moves over to check on Faiza, but looks up toward the Skeletal figure and
his information. He offers a nod to Salana as well, not happy that anyone had
to jump headlong into such a potentially dangerous prospect.

Chaza looks at Faiza. "What did you do to her?" he asks, angry now.

Faiza mutters, blinking blurrily at Lugh, "What a kiss..." She manages to
stand up again by holding onto the wall, but the solid down-ness of the floor
is still a questionable concept for her.

Anayra lets go of Faiza. "I /did/ try to caution you about that", she says to
the woman, turning back to face the Okt...

Lugh moves to help right Faiza, with an "Easy does it." and his hands. "You
alright?"

The Okt says, "The spell that would heal her is still not powerful enough to
undo your Curse. You see, you have been feeding the Curse, making it more
powerful. Adina has seen your Ark, she has stood in its heart. That place is
an altar of madness upon which you have sacrified rivers of blood. Is it not
so that the spirit that haunts the Ark brings you newcomers from other planes?
Is it not so that each time, or almost every time, you have killed? But the
power behind the Curse has more to its purpose than binding you to its
service..."

Anayra frowns. She can't deny the truth of what Okt says.

Chaza looks at the Okt. "That would heal who?"

Lugh replies, "We are bound to it so that we can feed it... What if we could
divert trouble away. Would that sufficiently resolve our issues, and let the
energies involved simply dissipate?"

Faiza wobbles again, and clutches Lugh's elbow before she falls down. She
mutters, "I'll be all right...just need some rest..."

Lugh does his best to reach around and give Faiza support, not expecting her
to be that weak at the knees. He looks around to see if there is some place he
can help her find a seat.

The skeletal Okt points towards Faiza. "A spell of restoration would recover
whatever energy she lost to my friend's kiss. But it would take a wish or a
miracle to free one of you from the Curse, at this point. A lesser spell might
ameliorate the effects for a time, but the Curse would eventually re-assert
itself."

Chaza nods to Okt. "So.. there is no reasonable way to break the curse."

Lugh considers this, "Would there be a means by which we could chip at the
strength of the curse, much as it has been building itself?"

Anayra remains silent, glancing back at Faiza, then back to the Okt.

The Okt says, "The Curse is not entirely reasonable. It is working towards
another end...it has to do with the Ark's power of planar travel, I would
guess, but I have no proof. If you feed it no further, it might indeed abate,
of itself, but the process would take many years. Ten, or a hundred." At
Lugh's question, he says, "There is another solution, yes. The Curse is
difficult, but the Ark itself is stone. Stone can be chipped away. Stone can
be broken, can be scattered.If you shattered the Ark itself and separated the
pieces enough, that would also free you from it, but remnants of the Curse
would follow you."

With Lugh's support, Faiza manages to balance herself and stagger along. There
isn't much in the way of furniture, but she sits down on the bottom step of
the entryway.

Anayra frowns, still. "What would these remnants of the Curse be?", she asks.

Chaza looks with concern at Faiza, wanting to get her to Hyan for an
examination as quickly as possible.. Restoration is beyond his power with
Pelor.

The Okt shakes his head. "This is more in the realm of speculation. I offer
only our best guess. We hazard that the Curse will lose enough of its potency
that it would no longer be able to kill. But the energy released from the
destruction of the physical Ark would blast a hole in the Prime. The hole
would rapidly seal itself again, but your people would be thrown into the
Shadow Plane. Exits there are from there, but the Curse might influence which
ones you find..."

Anayra frowns. "Destroying the Ark isn't an escape, then", she says. "The
families there wouldn't do well on a place of that sort... or in that
situation."

The Okt adds, "The Curse would ever draw you to danger and chaos, whether you
will it or no. If you find a remote valley and dwell as hermits, then that
valley will soon become the haunt of your enemies."

Lugh says "Even as the curse goes stronger many of us do as well however. I
wonder if that is part of the nature of the experiment also. You said
something about madness and interplanar travel. How do we deal with a madman?"

The Okt nods, spreading his hands and conceding the difficulty. "It may not be
madness. But what else can we call it when effect precedes cause? Perhaps no
sane mind can understand the tangling of the timelines in the Outer Darkness.
The creator of your Ark originated from thence, long ago, or a long time from
now."

Chaza doens't even pretend to understand this. He hopes Lugh is listening.

Anayra frowns, not quite catching all of that, either. "We should return to
report this to the council", she says to Chaza.

Lugh considers this one thoughtfully, "Outer Darkness. Would you do the favor
of explaining outder darkness? Are you speaking figuratively or of something
more real. You're saying our Ark is not from a then, but a will be. This will
be, somehow became a then, and it drifts through time and space with nets that
drag us into its snares."

The Okt nods. "Exactly. The Curse is dragging the Ark against the currents of
entropy. When it meets itself in the future timeline, that timeline will be
fixed. But because every future has an infinite number of pasts, and every
past an infinity of futures, your destiny is not fixed. The magic of its
construction was not conceived in this Now, but in a distant one. The Outer
Darkness refers to the limits of what we can see. Our vision, our perception,
has a finite speed. Consider an observer who started watching from the
creation of this universe. This observer can only have observed this much, and
no more. The 'more' is the Outer Darkness..."

Anayra shakes her head a little, trying to wrap her mind around what was just
explained.

Faiza takes a piece of paper and a pen and a vial of ink from her pack, and
starts taking notes. She's just scribbling down words as much as she can, not
bothering with comprehension right now.

Lugh considers it all very carefully, "DO you know much about the nature of
the 'Old man'? What differentiates him from other men?"

The Okt says, "That is another guess. He is not human, not elf, not anything
here, but perhaps a possibility of what a human might become. Yes, Adina said
she scented something human at the roots of the Ark...though nothing one would
ordinarily recognize as human now. She sensed the shadows of a great
desperation, and matching patience...alien lore and alien craft."

Lugh muses on this one thoughtfully, "I wonder if he is truly dead, or if his
death was planned and expected. For all we know he could have purposefully
allowed his own death."

Anayra remains quiet, confused by all the plane-talking that's not
plain-talking by any means.

The Okt says, "Yes, that is possible. He would not be the first god or
would-be god to sacrifice himself to himself..." He pauses, then says, "It
could indeed increase the power of his Curse."

Faiza has the paper spread out on the step next to her, and scribbles
furiously away. "...increase power curse...right."

Chaza shakes his head a little. This is all far beyond him. He nods
occasionally, still not comfortable with the wight-like draining done to Faiza.

Lugh seems to be thinking over this rather hard, then looks back toward Faiza,
and toward the Okt, "If he was peering into the past, then how can we change
the present? If he knows the way the timeline will turn, what can we do to
change it? How do we know we'd even want to. I feel as though I have to go
forward t ocome back, or attain nothing short of a miracle.

The Okt considers Lugh's question, then says, "A miracle. Or a wish. Yes.
Other than that...the timeline is not a straight road as popular conception
would have it, but a dark and tangled web of threads. If you break the right
node, his timeline will forever be inaccessible from yours...that is how a
wish or a miracle frees one from the Curse. But you might simply end up alone
in a universe that has never known the Ark, nor ever will. If you cannot see
into his future, then you must judge the quality of it by his deeds in your
present."

Lugh frowns thoughtfully, "What exactly is a node?"

Anayra is quiet, listening and looking from Okt to Lugh as the question and
answer session continues.

Lugh has disconnected.

The Okt answers Lugh's question with, "A node is where the threads cross.
Sometimes tangling, sometimes knotting. It's difficult to see them while you
are on the thread, but it is possible to cross from one timeline to another at
those points...that takes less power than it would to sever a connection.
Perhaps in the Mirror Plane, one might find a clearer view. But that is merely
supposition on my part."

[OOC: Players are sleepy. ICly, everyone heads back to the Ark.]
[Continuation the next day with Lugh]

Lugh considers this information thoughtfully, and is actually quite fascinated
in what this undead creature has to say. "What do you mean by the mirror plane,
I am now quite interested in the elements involving outer darkness, the manner
of person the old man is, and other such things. I'm also interested in how I
might find a node."
                                                                                
The Okt says, "The mirror plane is like, and unlike our plane. Its fate is not
linked to ours in any causal way. Yet images and even creatures pass from one
to the other. It is said by the ancient loremasters of Despair that divinations
cast from the mirror plane can find what is desired more readily..."
                                                                                
Lugh considers this thoughtfully, "I'm afraid where I am from, there aren't
Loremasters of Despair, and the term Mirror WOrld is probably not the same
either. Perhaps a device could be constructed for this purpose though."
                                                                                
The Okt says, "Dangerous. Empires have been destroyed when their mages meddled
with the Mirror Plane. But if you are wise and careful, you may slip by the
worst of the dangers."
                                                                                
The Okt adds, "Once you draw their attention, any reflective surface may become
an entrypoint..."
                                                                                
Lugh looks to Faiza to make sure she is alright, then approaches, "When you say
'their' do you speak of any particular entity?"
                                                                                
Faiza is still taking notes, it seems. She smiles at Lugh, but doesn't say
anything.
                                                                                
The Okt says, "This is beyond my memory, and the memory of my predecessors. But
legend speaks of the Yrktheran mages and their dealing with the mirror plane.
And now there is no Yrkthera."
                                                                                
Lugh says "This mirror plane, it is one and the same as this outer darkness
where our mad wizard comes from? Would he be an Yrktheran mage perhaps, or one
such as them?"
                                                                                
The Okt shakes his skeletal head under his hood. "No. The mirror plane is
within sight. Information passes back and forth. This is not so with the Outer
Darkness. Yrktherans were, and are, native to this plane, whatever other
bloodlines they mixed into their clans."
                                                                                
Lugh looks around and says, "I need only look in a reflecting pool or mirror?
Or is there something more?"
                                                                                
The Okt says, "No. There is a spell or a ritual. The details are not in the
province of hope or despair. Legend also speaks of mirrors enchanted for such
contact. But certain of the creatures who dwell on the other side may jump
freely from mirror to mirror with their innate gift for such travel. It is
their attention that I caution you against."
                                                                                
Lugh says "What is the nature of these mirror creatures, and how can I learn
of this plane without gaining its eye?"
                                                                                
The Okt shakes his head again. "You will have to seek elsewhere for such lore.
If you can find an Yrktheran, some of them may know."
                                                                                
Lugh hmmms, somewhat dismayed that the line of information is gone, he finally
asks, "Do you know anything more about this legend, something perhaps I could
look into?"
                                                                                
The Okt says again, "Look for an Yrktheran. They are a wandering people, now.
In my lifetime, one even came to the Temple of Despair."
                                                                                
Lugh says "What sets them apart from others?"
The Okt says, "Most of them are human, or humans with outsider ancestry in
them. But as to what they look like now, or if they still hew to their ancient
tongue, I know not."
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