Part MMMCVI: Ashes of the Past
Ashes of the Past

Second Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

As you stand on the edge of the strange dance seemingly unnoticed by the damned revelers you consider joining, indulging the illusion for a few moments at least, enough to learn more of the tale of that fateful day when so many burned and others were reforged in arcane fire. Yet something stays your hand. The Fey are born of tales, and by them they are bound, and here you stand in the antechamber of a Fey Queen's court under the gaze of her Herald. Best not let curiosity drive you to play into her hands.

Time stills under your power not for a moment as you have wrought so many times before, but for twelve long breaths, leaving the dancers frozen in their macabre embrace. You speak the invocations to Caraxes who was Lord of Death and fill them with your own power in place of the sundered god. As pale flame arises from the stone to bar the living dead you let your mind drift deeper into the the dreams of old, at once more distant and infinitely more aware of the currents of magic all around you. The dead are not wholly of this realm you see, and so shift your magic as a man changing the grip upon a favored weapon. Before you can focus once more on seeing past any ward the foe might bear the moment lurches into motion again.

"Stay inside the ward!" you call as the dead turn to gaze upon you in dreadful synchronicity and surge forward, feet no longer touching the ground like blacked leaves upon a dreadful gale. Something moves among them, though which is more than you can say. Your ward ripples and begins to tear, but before it can shatter the light of R'hllor shines forth from the plain copper talisman in Benerro's hand. The magic goes stillborn, the ward endures and then your final spell takes hold among the morbid gathering. Death long delayed is given the chance to reap those hidden from its gaze.

The dancers do not burn, they do not break, they fade like a dream before dawn's light and the ballroom fades with them. You find yourselves standing in a richly appointed study, the paintings of dead lords looking down from soot-blackened frames upon opulences of brass and polished ebony carved into shapes fantastical and strange.

A great fireplace higher than a man is tall burns behind a cold iron grate, while carved in the alcove above it is the sculpture of a woman looking on beseechingly. Some might mistake the expression upon the stone lit by the radiance of the roaring flames for lust, but you know if for what it truly is, a rapaciousness that is more than mortal, the dreadful hunger of Ymeri. The magister... the mage standing before the fire with his back turned to you does not see, or else he does not care, invoking words that are half prayer and half demand to the Queen of Inferno.


"There stands the architect of Volantis' woes, the opener of ways best left closed, or what is left of him at least," Zherys half-whispers.

Indeed, to your sight the mage and this room seems no more real than the ballroom that had come before, faded images playing out again and again that day of damnation with naught but ashes and suffering beneath the tattered silks.

"If only he had wisdom to match his ambition," Benerro's words are so faint you almost do not catch them, though from the way his gaze shifts to Zherys the comparison is obvious. It seems the Flame Keeper had come to see the High Speaker as more than a necessary evil. Alas, you do not have long to ponder the matter as the 'remembered' ritual before you reaches its crescendo, a summoning in blood and fire. The flames begin to take the shape you had seen in the Fey Seer's vision...

What do you do?

[] Let things play out and attack the Herald as he exits the flames
-[] Write in

[] Attack the summoner
-[] Write in

[] Write in


OOC: I've been waiting to use that picture for a long time now.
 
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Ashes of the Past

Second Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

As you stand on the edge of the strange dance seemingly unnoticed by the damned revelers you consider joining indulging the illusion for a few moments at least, enough to learn more of the tale of that fateful day when so many burned and others were reforged in arcane fire. Yet something stays your hand. The fey are born of tales, and by them they are bound and here you stand in the antechamber of a Fey Queen's court under the gaze of her herald. Best not let curiosity drive you to play into her hands.

Time stills under your power not for a moment as you have wrought so many times but for twelve long breaths, leaving the dancers frozen in their macabre embrace. You speak this invocations to Vhagar who was Lord of Death and fill them with your own power in place of the sundered god. As pale flame arises from the stone to bar the living dead you let your mind drift deeper into the the dreams of old, at once more distant and infinity more aware of the currents of magic all around you. The dead are not wholly of this realm you see and so shift your magic as a man changing the grip upon a favored weapon. Before you can focus once more on seeing past any ward the foe might bear the moment lurches into motion again.

"Stay inside the ward!" you call as the dead turn to to gaze upon you in dreadful synchronicity and surge forward feet no longer tocuhing the ground like blacked leaves upon a dreadful gale. Something moves among them, though which is more than you can say. Your ward ripples and begins to tear but before it can shatter the light of R'hllor shines forth from the plain copper talisman in Benero's hand. The magic does stillborn, the ward endures and then your final spell takes hold among the morbid gathering. Death long delayed is given the chance to reap those hidden from its gaze.

The dancers do not burn, they do not break, they fade like a dream before dawn's light and the ballroom fades with them. You find yourselves standing in a richly appointed study, the paintings of dead lords looking down from soot-blackened frames upon the oppolance of brass and polished ebony carved into shapes fantastical and strange.

A great fireplace higher than a man is tall burns behind a cold iron grate, while carved in the alcove above it is the sculpture of a woman looking on beseechingly. Some might mistake the expression upon the stone lit by the radiance of the roaring flames for lust, but you know if for what it truly is, a rapacious that is more than mortal, the dreadful hunger of Ymeri. The magister... the mage standing before the fire with your back turned to you does not see, or else he does not care, invoking words that are half prayer, half demand to the Queen of Inferno.


"There stands the architect of Volantis' woes, the opener of ways best left closed, or what is left of him at least, " Zherys half-whispers.

Indeed to your sight the mage, this hall seems no more real than the ballroom that had come before, faded images playing out again and again that day of damnation with naught but ashes and suffering beneath the tattered silks.

"If only he had wisdom to match his ambition," Benero's words are so faint you almost do not catch them, though from the way his gaze shifts to Zherys the comparison is obvious. It seems the Flame Keeper had come to see the High Speaker as more than a necessary evil. Alas you do not have long to ponder the matter as the 'remembered' ritual before you reaches its crescendo, a summoning in blood and fire. The flames begin to take the shape you had seen in the fey seer's vision...

What do you do?

[] Let things play out and atatck the Herald as he exits the flames
-[] Write in

[] Attack the summoner
-[] Write in

[] Write in


OOC: I've been waiting to use that picture for a long time now. Note yet edited.


Nobody:

Absolutely Not Ymeri:

Not Her Herald That's For Sure:





Viserys: "I'm gonna end this man's whole career."

@Goldfish If you pay close attention, Viserys cleaned up that encounter, and Benerro comes in with the clutch save.

Just like Richard rose like ten levels in Zherys' estimation, Zherys has also in Benerro, though more for the former's politics than valor and skill. Which is ironic considering... pretty much everything about our relationship with both.

@DragonParadox Benerro, for being so free with helping Viserys and teaming up and giving AND taking advice whenever we pop by, actually seems to keep his cards close to his chest regarding his opinion about us. Viserys gain any insight there?
 
Who has better Initiative Viserys or Malarys? Because I'm thinking two Sacramental Seals. One at the Mage, the other at the creature of its summoned or the Mage if the first one fail and the herald still isnt here.
 
@Goldfish The mage has defenses protecting his back, might want to think of a way to bypass them before you go on an all out attack.
 
Well that's assuming we want the risk of this thing being summoned or want prisoners. If not the safest would be a bunch of Dispel Magics, get close with a Anti-Magic Sphere and then nom the guy.
 
@DragonParadox Benerro, for being so free with helping Viserys and teaming up and giving AND taking advice whenever we pop by, actually seems to keep his cards close to his chest regarding his opinion about us. Viserys gain any insight there?

From what Viserys has seen IC:

It's pretty clear Benerro respects him for bringing peace to Volantis and being at least the indirect impetus for freeing the slaves, but perhaps the priest does not wish to seem too close, lest it encourage the 'Viserys is Azor Ahai' crowd and start a theological crises that could rip his congregation apart
 
From what Viserys has seen IC:

It's pretty clear Benerro respects him for bringing peace to Volantis and being at least the indirect impetus for freeing the slaves, but perhaps the priest does not wish to seem too close, lest it encourage the 'Viserys is Azor Ahai' crowd and start a theological crises that could rip his congregation apart
It probably also helps that Viserys isn't an opponent there in the vein of "I will take advantage of this messianic trope intentionally" and instead mostly leverages it indirectly.

In fact I think that might be a partial cause of the distance, the fact that we've shot down calls to take up the mantle but aren't shy at all about basically usurping the allusions to it, that and the fact that very few people other than Viserys fit the bill so it becomes a weird conflict of "can't entirely support because he's definitely taking advantage of my religion's theology/can't help but support because he might very well actually be the Messiah".
 
Can we complete the ritual?

I imagine "explode and die" wasn't what he was planning on doing. Could we fix the ritual? Trap the herald here and now @DragonParadox ?
 
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[X] Plan Ghostbusters II
-[X] Viserys casts True Casting as a Swift Action, then targets the Dread Wraith with a Transdimensonal Undeath to Death spell as a Standard Action using Wild Arcana. If he fails to stop it from Summoning the Herald, Viserys uses another Mythic Power with Amazing Initiative and his Belt of Battle to target the Herald with a Amber Sarcophagus spell using Blood Wish.
-[X] Rina cancels her Sign buff to set her Initiative check result to 22, then Rebukes the Dread Wraith. If the Herald is successfully Summoned before she can Rebuke the Wraith and Viserys fails to capture it, Rina targets it with a Maximized Cold Ice Strike if it is within range, plus a Maximized Holy Ice javelin spell.
 
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What happens if we stop the Herald from being summoned? @DragonParadox, we're not going to be cheated out of our fight, right? It should by all rights be trapped somewhere in the mansion.
 
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