Centoriel

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Re: Centoriel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Sorry, this is gonna be long...]

"That was discouraging," Sister Rose said, getting a doleful nod from Brother Miguel. "I thought for a while that we might be getting close to Egbert. At least they were talking as though he wasn't far away. But we can't find him if we're dead, and that seemed like a real possibility there."

"It did," Miguel agreed. "I've never felt so outgunned in my life. I don't think even the Patriarch's Own Household Guard could have stood up to the things we were seeing. They were certainly way past our skills. And the hell of it is, I can't even figure out who the bad guys were."

"I know what you mean," Rose said. "You'd think that somebody there should have been on our own side. But --" She broke off, seeing a parrot inbound. The code words were exchanged, and the bird began to recite.

(UNCLASSIFIED) Thanks for your latest. It confirms several things that we had only conjectured previously. I'm bending the rules slightly to continue using this medium; please treat the following information as particularly sensitive.

{LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) Based on your grumpfw--


The last word wasn't really a "word," but rather the noise the parrot made as Miguel clamped his hand over its beak. The bird looked daggers at him as he said, "Rose, I'm not sure we should take this message in present company. We've been interpreting 'need to know' pretty loosely here."

Rose thought about it, then sighed. "You're right, we have. But these people do have a need to know, if we're going to find Egbert and -- let's face it -- live to tell about it. Let's hear what Bernie has to say and clean up any mess later."

Miguel nodded gravely, released the bird's beak. It hissed, "Asshole!" -- Miguel was pretty sure that wasn't part of the message -- and resumed its narrative.

{LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) Based on your description, we are almost certain that you stumbled into a Malletarian teleport trap. No such trap was known to exist in the Centoriel area until now. They have been observed in a very few other locations in Veracia; the details are classified LUMINOSITA'S TOP SECRET and, as usual, cannot be revealed via this medium. Please prepare to treat the exact location of this trap as comparably sensitive.

(SECRET) In case you are unfamiliar with these teleport traps: As you probably know, the Malletarian Heresy involves human sacrifice. However, unlike some of the blood cults of the Northern Confederacy, the Malletarians always seek their sacrificial victims from outside the cult itself. There are supposedly doctrinal reasons for this practice, but needless to say, it has its practical dimensions as well.

(LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) The Malletarians therefore have constructed one-time teleportation systems, apparently based on Tsuirakuan warp-gate thaumotechnology. Details of how they obtained this technology are lacking, and the Patriarch has offered quite a substantial monetary award for information that might reveal the answer to this question. Events so far suggest that you people might be in line for a chunk of that reward money. Just make sure you survive your quest, and a nice little present may be waiting for you when you get back to civilization.

(LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) The connection between these teleportation devices and the Malletarian human-sacrifice rituals is exactly as you have experienced it. Somehow -- again, no one knows how, and a reward is offered for information -- the Malletarians emplace the devices in out-of-the-way locations that might attract curious travelers, particularly fortune seekers. (Without going into specifics inappropriate for this medium, at least one other site dating to the Mage-Priest Wars has been found to harbor these devices.) A curious traveler, perhaps seeking booty from the old war zone, blunders into the field of the trap, and is suddenly teleported to somewhere else, most probably the Malletarian fortress in the mountains of Farrel, where he or she is then slain in a sacrificial ritual. Meanwhile, other spells triggered by the trap discourage investigation by any of the erstwhile victim's fellow travelers. The Force Bolt (or Lightning Bolt, whatever) incorporated into the Centoriel trap for this purpose appears unprecedentedly powerful. This will be investigated carefully. A certain amount of this analysis is speculation -- no one has ever returned alive after being abducted for a Malletarian sacrificial rite -- but there is HUMINT suggesting that it is correct, although of course, that cannot be discussed via this medium.

(LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) This parrot's memory is approaching overflow, so another bird will be sent later with more information on the trap, possible information on the mysterious "Arganial" you found dead there -- the name is common in Farrel and some research will have to be done -- requested followup actions, and so on. For now, however, I strongly urge that you get the hell out of there. A full-blown military expedition to destroy the traps will follow, but until then we cannot guarantee your safety in the Centoriel area. With Departure coming to an end, you'll almost certainly be safer going through the small towns of southern Veracia, xenophobic as they may be.

(UNCLASSIFIED) Thanks again, and take care of yourselves; the possible bonus will be worth surviving to come back for.

Bernie


As the parrot keeled over, Rose and Miguel exchanged a look. "Now they tell us..."
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Sareth
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Re: Centoriel

Post by Sareth »

Lillith had listened to the message with mouth gaping open. The more she heard, the paler she got. By the time the parrot finished and expired, she was white as a sheet. Small, articulate sounds escaped her mouth, which was working like a fish out of water.

"I could have died," she gasped. "If I hadn't run into you I could have..."

Her skin went from white to gray, and she broke out in a sweat.
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Graybeard
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Re: Centoriel

Post by Graybeard »

"I could have died," she gasped. "If I hadn't run into you I could have..."

Sister Rose looked at Lillith levelly, and one would say, compassionately; she didn't need the Empathy spell to have some insights into what the girl must be feeling. "And if it hadn't been for you, we might have died," she replied gently. "Your sensing of the ill-ease of the Centoriel site may have kept us from doing something we would have regretted. As I think about it, I think that Miguel and I were arguing a lot more vehemently than we can attribute to stress and the general weirdness of the place. Maybe it's attributable to some kind of psychic after-effects of the Mage-Priest Wars and whatever got dumped there. And how clever of the Malletarians to put their traps in a place like that: if visitors to the site are going to fall to fighting among themselves, it's just that much more likely that one of them will storm off in a rage, wander into one of the teleport traps, and ..." She let her voice trail off.

She turned back to the horses, set them in motion at a slow, thoughtful walk. "But you picked up on the psychic stress of the place, and you made sure we knew about it, so that we could back away from that precipice before any of us fell in. So we owe you our gratitude, as well ... my friend." She smiled as she held the reins, mentally saying a silent, internal prayer of thanksgiving.

[OOC: And on that note, would anyone object to drawing this particular chapter to a close and opening a "Homontel" thread? Feel free to post a parting thought or two first, if appropriate.]
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Sareth
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Re: Centoriel

Post by Sareth »

[OOC]Sure. Sounds good to me![/OOC]
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Re: Centoriel

Post by Viking-Sensei »

Sasha sighed. "I suppose I can't use almost any of this for my thesis. Still, maybe I can write a novel... change a few names, places, maybe set it in the colonies... yeah, that might work.
How could a plan this awesome possibly fail?
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