And then the discussion ended with several people saying "yeh, we had too many pointless interludes lately", too.
Like, I'm about 80% sure we got over the whole "buh wuh, muh lootz!"-argument there.

Yrael, lots of air force, Hadhayosh, Bloom the Brijidine... and that's pretty much it for whom we are sending.

And I say that's both enough for us to get some "loot", and meaningful enough firepower to halp R'hlor.

If nothing else convinces you, take a promise from me that I will fight tooth and nail against making it an interlude, or sending more people there.
You know well enough how retarded I can be in arguing.
Worse than a certain poster I won't name, if necessary.

/͟b̟̟̯̤͙/̖͘ ͎͉̼f̙̮̻͡l̠ọ̷̰̠̺̩͓̱w̨̙̰̝̩̜̺ͅs̭̗̩̯ ̖̣̞͔̠ͅt͏͔h͚r̶̙̱̳͔o̗u̯̯͈͉ͅg̵̻͍̤̫͚̬̺h ̧̞̪͕̥̪̰m̳y̬̦͎͔͎͉̭ ̷̮v̳̬e̴̖̣̟ͅi̪̲n̨͕s̱̩̻̱̜
I'm just pretty sure that the argument will flare up again now that Norvos and Qohor will be taken off the docket.
 
nothing else convinces you, take a promise from me that I will fight tooth and nail against making it an interlude, or sending more people there.
You know well enough how retarded I can be in arguing.
Worse than a certain poster I won't name, if necessary.
Honestly, I don't need a series of Interludes or any decisions, but at least one update to see how Gods fight on their homeground would be appreciated.

If only for DP to write something we haven't seen yet.
 
Interlude CMIX: Poisoned Gifts
Poisoned Gifts

Fifteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

Forest of Qohor

The days flowed together like fine wine, like mother's milk, the forest thrummed and beat like one great heart and all within it in harmony. Hail... hail... hail the unborn.

"Forgive me, for I am not worthy!" Did the words come out of his mouth, did he merely think them? Did it matter?

The flesh had sloughed off from Hernor's face like the lies of the unbelievers, but the Great One did not see fit to give him new flesh with his thunderous caress. This was his penance, perhaps his end.

The lion devours the lamb and then it falls dead to be eaten by the worms. The worms squirm and writhe, the roots come too. Soon... soon... he was so close. He could feel them pulling at his ankles, the First Shoots, he could feel their thoughts tangling with his, weaving... binding.

Screaming, pulling, ripping, wracking.

The mage gave thanks to the Mother of All for choosing him, and if the words sounded like rasping over dry bones it did not matter. She always heard, always knew Her Children from the Devoured. She would exalt him.

The forest twisted and flowed around him, green and black. The sound of breaking wood...

Oh, I must have fallen. Hernor tried to get up, hoped he could get up. He remembered... his sis... the Traitor Yaelys, had fallen and not been able to get up, her limbs turned to hooves and she brayed and screamed. She hadn't been speaking, she couldn't have been speaking.

They are eating them! They are eating them!

Blackness fell.

Captured Outer Mutant Druid 5 (CR 6; 5 HD)

***​

Headquarters of the Inquisition, Sorcerer's Deep

"They are eating the Far-Touched babies?" Mia knew her voice sounded unusually flat, but she really did not care. There was a limit to what even an inquisitor was expected to take in stride.

"No," High Inquisitor Drekelis replied quickly. "The babes are eating their wet nurses, some of them, consuming their souls as they suckle. It's hard to pick it apart entirely, the cult uses magic..." he glances at Xor. "Or I suppose mind arts to edit memories their adepts are not supposed to have, and the mage's mind was already fragile from his supposed failings in getting a 'proper' mutation."

"Why did he get a skull head?" Nuri asked, looking down at the bound and unconscious blight-druid, seeming somehow more monstrous in the harsh light of the headquarters' interrogation room.

"The mutations of the Far Realm are not like the Blessings of Baator or even Daemonic Gifts," Wisdom Xor replied quietly. "They resonate with some aspect of the soul they are being grafted upon rather than simply being a reflection of the patron. It is more... well, I suppose you could say energy efficient that way. The 'Far Realm' is rightly named."

"Getting back to babies eating their wet nurses," Mia interjected, not really wanting a lecture in the workings of utter madness no matter how personable the lecturer was. "You said some of them feed that way. What happens to the rest?"

"They vanish, I imagine much like the one I bought," he replies. "Some part of the ritual must not be fulfilled."

"Perhaps the better question is what happens to the bodies," Kira mused, pushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes to better look at the prisoner. "The dead can be persuaded to talk with the right spell."

***​

New Wood Lichyard, Qohor

The Qohorik used to burn their dead, now they buried them among the roots of gnarled pines dripping with pallid lichen. They were too young to have grown so swift, Wisdom Xor had said, he did not need to add the rest.

The Forest was making its place here in the city among the tall hollow towers of what had once been an estate of the Teregyl Family, which not appreciate the change in faith and had paid for it by being the first to be feed to the twisted roots. Others had been brought here, the honored, the martyred, those who had died from the touch of the divine... and at least one slave wet nurse whose tale Mia very much wanted to hear.

The earth squelched and steamed as they worked, the small that rose from it indescribably foul.

Well alright, maybe 'want to know' is a bit much, Mia thought. I definitely need to know it.

Though they waited with baited breath for some horror to emerge from the grave and try to protect its secrets, no such thing could be found there, only fragile bones and a few tatters of flesh that looked like they had been interred decades, not months, ago.

Thankfully bones were all they needed, the sign of the pact near as soon as the whispers rose from hollow skulls. The wet nurses who had perished had been the ones who had come to care for their charges.

What next?

[] Try to track down more of the Far-Born infants to see what the next stage of their development is

[] Try to impersonate Hernor returned in glory with proper mutations to learn more

[] Attempt to enter the Flesh Forge

[] Write in


OOC: I had originally wanted to do the whole interlude from the cultist's perspective, but it would have just been too confusing.
 
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Poisoned Gifts

Fifteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

Forest of Qohor

The days flowed together like fine wine, like mother's milk, the forest thrummed and beat like one great heart, and all within it in harmony. Hail... hail... hail the unborn. "Forgive me, for I am not worthy!" did the words come out of his mouth, did he merely think them. Did it matter? The flesh had sloughed off from Hernor's face like the lies of the unbelievers, but the Great One did not see fit to give him new flesh with his thunderous caress. This was his penance, perhaps his end.

The lion devours the lamb and then it falls dead to be eaten by the worms. The worms squirm and writhe, the roots come too. Soon... soon... he was so close. He could feel them pulling at his ankles, the First Shoots, he could feel their thoughts tangling with his, weaving... binding.

Screaming pulling ripping wracking.

The mage gave thanks to the Mother of All for choosing him, and if the words sounded like rasping over dry bones, it did not matter. She always heard, always knew Her Children from the Devoured. She would exalt him.

The forest twisted and flowed around him, green and black. The sound of breaking wood...

Oh I must have fallen. Hernor tried to get up, hoped he could get up, He remembered... his sis... the Traitor Yaelys, had fallen and not been able to get up, her limbs turned to hooves and she brayed and screamed. She hadn't been speaking, she couldn't have been speaking.

They are eating them! They are eating them!

Blackness fell.

Captured Outer Mutant Druid 5 (CR 6; 5 HD)

***​

Headquarters of the Inquisition, Sorcerer's Deep

"They are eating the Far-Touched babies?" Mia knew her voice sounded unusually flat, but she really did not care. There was a limit to what even an inquisitor was expected to take in stride.

"No," High Inquisitor Drekelis replied quickly. "The babes are eating their wet nurses, some of them, consuming their souls as they suckle. It's hard to pick it apart entirely, the cult uses magic..." he glances at Xor. "Or I suppose mind arts, to edit memories their adepts are not supposed to have, and the mage's mind was already fragile from his supposed failings in getting a 'proper' mutation."

"Why did he get a skull head?" Nuri asked, looking down at the bound and unconscious blight-druid, seeming somehow more monstrous in the harsh light of the Head Office's interrogation room.

"The mutations of the Far Realm are not like the Blessings of Baator or even Daemonic Gifts," Wisdom Xor replied quietly "They resonate with some aspect of the soul they are being grafted upon rather than simply being a reflection of the patron. It is more... well I suppose you should say energy efficient that way. The 'Far Realm' is rightly named."

"Getting back to babies eating their wet nurses," Mia interjected, not really wanting a lecture in the workings of utter madness, no matter how personable the lecturer was. "You said some of them feed that way. What happens to the rest?"

"They vanish, I imagine much like the one I bought," he replies. "Some part of the ritual must not be fulfilled."

"Perhaps the better question is what happens to the bodies," Kira mused, pushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes to better look at the prisoner. "The dead can be persuaded to talk with the right spell."

***​

New Wood Lichyard, Qohor

The Qohorick used to burn their dead, now they buried them among the roots of gnarled pines dripping with pallid lichen. They were too young to have grown so swift, Wisdom Xor had said. He did not need to add the rest.

The Forest was making its place here in the city among the tall hollow towers of what had once been an estate of the Teregyl Family which did not appreciate the change in faith and had paid for it by being the first to be inferred among twisted roots. Others had been brought here, the honored, the martyred, who had died from the touch of the divine... and at least one slave wet nurse whose tale Mia very much wanted to hear.

The earth squelched and stemmed as they worked, the smell that rose from it indescribably foul.

Well alright, maybe 'want to know' is a bit much, Mia thought. I need to know it definitely.

Although they waited with baited breath for some horror to emerge from the grave and try to protect its secrets, no such thing could be found there, only fragile bones and a few tatters of flesh that looked like they had been interred decades not months ago.

Thankfully, bones were all they needed, the sign of the pact near as soon as the whispers rose from hollow skulls. The wet nurses who had perished had been the ones who had come to care for their charges.

What next?

[] Try to track down more of the far-born infants to see what the next stage of their development is

[] Try to impersonate Hernor, returned in glory with proper mutations to learn more

[] Attempt to enter the flesh forge

[] Write in


OOC: I had originally wanted to do the whole interlude from the cultist's perspective, but it would have just been too confusing. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
This is a thread I think we should keep pulling on to see what unravels.

[X] Try to track down more of the far-born infants to see what the next stage of their development is
 
I'm getting bored of Qohor by now, tbh.

I kinda hope this thread won't take too long to pull, considering we are likely to just drop and not touch this place until after Reconquest anyway from what we've seen so far.

[X] Goldfish
 
I'm getting bored of Qohor by now, tbh.

I kinda hope this thread won't take too long to pull, considering we are likely to just drop and not touch this place until after Reconquest anyway from what we've seen so far.

[X] Goldfish

Should only be one or two more updates to go, the only reason it was this slow was that I got sick and it slowed t down the update schedule. That is mostly behind us now.
 
I am firmly in burn the city and salt the ground camp now. Maybe evacuate some citizens if we can but we should burn them and its fey world out.
 
[X] Try to track down more of the far-born infants to see what the next stage of their development is
 
The wet nurses who had perished had been the ones who had come to care for their charges.
That's kinda fucked up once you think about it. The little fuckers are using human child-rearing instincts to find the best people to feed on. The only way a wetnurse could survive is if she'd also be willing to punt the little bastard for a field goal.

[X] Try to track down more of the far-born infants to see what the next stage of their development is

Honestly I'm thinking we should consider exterminatus for this place, the taint seems to run to damn deep for normal cleansing efforts and something that could come up with this is not something I could deal with in good faith.
 
If it turns out this place is too much to fully purge of the cults, at the bare minimum that Forge needs to be destroyed.
 
The only way a wetnurse could survive is if she'd also be willing to punt the little bastard for a field goal.
Amen.



Also, y'all speak of cleansing the place, Exterminatus'ing it, etc., but... how, exactly?

Like, we have the entirety of CoS to kill by the end of 3rd month.
Whole Westeros to start 4th month, and last through 5th up the 6th month.
Slavers' Bay to somehow handle afterwards, too.

And 'cleansing' Qohor so far seems like it'll take monumental effort even if we launch every space-capable vessel we have with modifications to launch lumps of Hardened rock to orbitally bombard the place (which won't really work, ask Azel for details on why)
And we don't have that space-faring capacity for our Moonchasers yet, either.

And that's not mentioning all the Legions we'd have to settle in the place to keep it contained, and massive amounts of Soulforged!Undead (because fleshcrafted things are a risk in the place, we haven't Warp-proofed our forges nor resulting creatures yet) to handle constant low-level incursions we'd have until the Feywild is somehow dealt with and all the summon-capable cucktists (think thousands, Black Goat is the primary religion here) are very ded.
And the place will require a lot of local people getting purged, too. Thousands and thousands. Rather immorally at that as a matter of a fact.

Breaking the forge is the only thing we can reasonably do to affect the place with any sort of lasting effect right now.

...and that's all before we go into OOC reasoning DP dun goofed by giving us. And his general "no threat from things"-way of writing.
 
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Amen.



Also, y'all speak of cleansing the place, Exterminatus'ing it, etc., but... how, exactly?

Like, we have the entirety of CoS to kill by the end of 3rd month.
Whole Westeros to start 4th month, and last through 5th up the 6th month.
Slavers' Bay to somehow handle afterwards, too.

And 'cleansing' Qohor so far seems like it'll take monumental effort even if we launch every space-capable vessel we have with modifications to launch lumps of Hardened rock to orbitally bombard the place (which won't really work, ask Azel for details on why)
And we don't have that space-faring capacity for our Moonchasers yet, either.

And that's not mentioning all the Legions we'd have to settle in the place to keep it contained, and massive amounts of Soulforged!Undead (because fleshcrafted things are a risk in the place, we haven't Warp-proofed our forges nor resulting creatures yet) to handle constant low-level incursions we'd have until the Feywild is somehow dealt with and all the summon-capable cucktists (think thousands, Black Goat is the primary religion here) are very ded.

Breaking the forge is the only thing we can reasonably do to affect the place with any sort of lasting effect right now.
An annoyingly long and unfortunately bloody process. Ultimately Azel is right, this is probably going to be worse than the Court of Stars.

With the Fey, all we're doing is burning their court to the ground after we decapitate their leadership. With Qohor, we have to clean up the place again, save what innocents we can, and make the damn city habitable somehow. Cleanup is always ten times more effort.

I don't see us getting to this for like six months. Fortunately this leaves more focus on Westeros.
 
...So much for leaving Qohor until the end of the month so we transition into purging it the very moment we are done, eh?
:V
 
That's kinda fucked up once you think about it. The little fuckers are using human child-rearing instincts to find the best people to feed on. The only way a wetnurse could survive is if she'd also be willing to punt the little bastard for a field goal.

[X] Try to track down more of the far-born infants to see what the next stage of their development is

Honestly I'm thinking we should consider exterminatus for this place, the taint seems to run to damn deep for normal cleansing efforts and something that could come up with this is not something I could deal with in good faith.
Yeah, it's really fucked up. Straight up viscerally disturbing.

Then again, isn't that what normal children do, too, if in a slightly less overt manner? They suck up your time, your money, your patience, etc. Just because they stop at taking your soul doesn't mean they don't try to hollow you out.

/might have issues with children
 
...So much for leaving Qohor until the end of the month so we transition into purging it the very moment we are done, eh?
:V
Such is life, we've just got to roll with the punches and salvage what we can. For now that means focusing entirely on the Court of Stars' destruction, and then the conquest of Westeros in the aftermath.
 
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