Ihrin shivers as they hit the city and sighs."I always feel unease here in the fabled home of the Romans." She says as things spark shadows in her mind allows her to see phantoms of the past that weren't quite the past.
The pope is ecstatic to see the Mighty Crusaders, Jackals and Fools return to Rome, and doubly so because he knows that their quest in The Dark Continent was to find the fabled treasures of King Solomon's Mines. He seems relieved at the heroes' return, as if he doubted at times that they would ever be seen again, and throws a sumptuous feast at the Papal Castle, inviting the citizens of Rome, especially the poor and downtrodden, to attend and be fed.
Thank God for your safe return, my brave and excellent children in Christ! I worried as if for my own sons and daughters while you were away, and I am heartily sorry that you return to such sad and terrible news of the accursed fire wyrm's rampaging and ransacking. The Enemy pushes us to desperate measures, it would seem. By the grace of God, we shall prevail!
"Your holiness, it is a pleasure to see you again too. We shall stop this wyrmwood, I PLEDGE! AND THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO FIND AND STOP THIS NERO, TOO!"
Johnan gets louder and louder as he talks.
Ihrin shivers as they hit the city and sighs."I always feel unease here in the fabled home of the Romans." She says as things spark shadows in her mind allows her to see phantoms of the past that weren't quite the past.
The sense that she has walked these streets and plazas in another life is inescapable to Lady Ihrin as the party approaches Vatican Hill...
She has brief flashes of memory that aren't from this life as she looks upon the ruins of the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and other relics of those halcyon days...
The pope is ecstatic to see the Mighty Crusaders, Jackals and Fools return to Rome, and doubly so because he knows that their quest in The Dark Continent was to find the fabled treasures of King Solomon's Mines. He seems relieved at the heroes' return, as if he doubted at times that they would ever be seen again, and throws a sumptuous feast at the Papal Castle, inviting the citizens of Rome, especially the poor and downtrodden, to attend and be fed.
Thank God for your safe return, my brave and excellent children in Christ! I worried as if for my own sons and daughters while you were away, and I am heartily sorry that you return to such sad and terrible news of the accursed fire wyrm's rampaging and ransacking. The Enemy pushes us to desperate measures, it would seem. By the grace of God, we shall prevail!
"By the grace of God we must, indeed. This dragon has been a scourge on the land for far too long. It has eluded me these past 7 years, wreaking havoc where it may. It must stop."
Alphonse has a hard time enjoying the feast, antsy to find a way to pin down the great wyrm. He knows the party cannot survive without rest and food, but that niggling sense that they are wasting time continually chimes in the back of his head.
Occasionally he sweeps his gaze across the crowd of revelers, into the ceiling, and around himself, searching for the telltale taint of Evil, though he does not truly expect to find any here.
"Your holiness, it is a pleasure to see you again too. We shall stop this wyrmwood, I PLEDGE! AND THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO FIND AND STOP THIS NERO, TOO!"
Johnan gets louder and louder as he talks.
Of course, you must be very weary of your travels. Rest and recuperate your strength as much as you need to before returning to the Catacombs. If you need my assistance with divine healing, removal of curses, or any other afflictions acquired in your travels, please do not hesitate to ask!
Occasionally he sweeps his gaze across the crowd of revelers, into the ceiling, and around himself, searching for the telltale taint of Evil, though he does not truly expect to find any here.
If there is any evil present, it is masked by powerful magic...
The Fox kneels down and kisses Pope Eugenius' papal ring.
"We are very grateful to the Lord for our safe return," he says. "Thank you for welcoming us again, Father."
The Fox kneels down and kisses Pope Eugenius' papal ring.
"We are very grateful to the Lord for our safe return," he says. "Thank you for welcoming us again, Father."
God bless you, Ogon Fox! His Imperial Majesty Sigismund has fallen gravely ill, I am sorry to report... He wrote to me, and he said that your composition is the only music that gives him any comfort from his pains...*sigh*... It is a powerful malady that even my most fervent prayers of healing will not cure, I'm afraid...
"IS CARDINAL LUCIUS STILL ABOUT, YOUR HOLINESS? HE IS ALWAYS UP FOR QUIET AND UNOBTRUSIVE GUESTS LIKE US."
Alas... says the holy father sadly, even I could not dissuade him from flying west on his magic carpet to aid the poor Spaniards...
Our dear Cardinal Lucius D'Borja has flown with all haste to Barcelona, to offer his assistance to His Majesty Alfonso V the Magnanimous in succoring his devastated kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and the County of Barcelona, which have all suffered the vile ruination of the dragon's breath... Pope Eugene crosses himself and shakes his gray head sadly.
"Yes it was quite tragic your excellency. Such ruination and the bodies. So much death." She says as she curtsys as is proper in her form of an Italian noble.
"Tell me father have you sought to send priests and peasants to aid in cleansing the soil and laying rest to the dead?" She says still uneasy here in the land, so many phantoms in the corner of her eyes and her mind.
"Also you Excellency have you heard any reports of the dragon? I doubt a creature of that size and strength could hide form those smaller, without notice. Do you know of any possible landing sites?"[
"Rest more like research, things to make and spells to memorize. I shall not have a devil belittle us again" She says as she then looks to the pope.
"With Lucius out, I feel fewer stares when I commune with mother Africa. The spirits here help as well. They are eager to ride their lands of the taint. Pope, do you have access to powerful scrolls for which I can study?" She asks looking at the man with her two different colored eyes
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+16
"Yes it was quite tragic your excellency. Such ruination and the bodies. So much death." She says as she curtsys as is proper in her form of an Italian noble.
"Tell me father have you sought to send priests and peasants to aid in cleansing the soil and laying rest to the dead?" She says still uneasy here in the land, so many phantoms in the corner of her eyes and her mind.
"Also you Excellency have you heard any reports of the dragon? I doubt a creature of that size and strength could hide form those smaller, without notice. Do you know of any possible landing sites?"[
The holy father pauses strangely as he regards Lady Ihrin, as though she reminds him of someone else..
Ah, yes... Of course, my dear Lady Dracul... I have sent many brave and reverent priests west to Spain and North to France... I have communed with Our Father in Heaven, in hope of divining where and when the dragon might strike next, and I fear that it will continue its rampage throughout Christendom. With the Emperor fallen ill with this evil sickness that resists magical cures, I fear the Holy Roman Empire will bear the brunt of the devastation... The German counties and baronies along the Rhine are in great peril!
"Rest more like research, things to make and spells to memorize. I shall not have a devil belittle us again" She says as she then looks to the pope.
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+2
"With Lucius out, I feel fewer stares when I commune with mother Africa. The spirits here help as well. They are eager to ride their lands of the taint. Pope, do you have access to powerful scrolls for which I can study?" She asks looking at the man with her two different colored eyes
Turning to Mwikali, the Pope replies: Yes, my dear Lady Mwikali, you shall have unrestricted access to the Vatican library... I'm certain you will find whatever you may need there...
As Lady Ihrin sits at Pope Eugene's table feasting, she is suddenly overcome by a sense of deja vu that transports her back in time to the days of the Roman Empire and the reign of Nero. She is no longer Ihrin Dracul, but Agrippina the Younger, younger sister of Emperor Nero, and she is no longer at the Pope's table but at the Emperor's table.
Instead of the Pope, her cruel older brother Nero sits at the head of the table, drinking a goblet of wine, leering at her.
Emperor Nero quaffs his goblet of wine and thumps the table with his fist in time to the beat of a drummer and lyrist playing a lively March in the phrygian mode.
Have you decided to relax and enjoy yourself this time, little sister? I promise, there's no gladiator's blood in your wine this time. HAHAHAHAHAAA!!! Ah, the look on your little face! Priceless! Priceless.
Lord P, as a human servant child looks on as the Pope talks. He was always amazed at the earthly opulence of teh popes. Each year they seem to drop more and more finer clothing and gems. Keeping his voice low he wispered to the air..
"O Little Rabbi, It would brake your heart so, to see, when you wore nothing and had nothing, your aclamed holy kings on earth drape themselves so?. It's just like byzantium all over again."
Turning to Lord Perpireen in his guise of young servant boy, Pope Eugene smiles a fatherly smile and says, Who is this handsome young lad with you?
"I see that is good." She says as she shivers a bit.
'excuse me Your Grace, I need a moment" She says curtsying low and then turning to head to the nearest exit where she can slip into an alcove and breath.
"That is generous of you. Strange though allowing a pagan like me to look about your library" She says raising a brow but then again Christians were weird.
She turns to look at the Disguise of Lord P and speaks."He can speak for himself. At least he usually does" She looks back to the pope and then the others.
"We should once we are done find some food and then prepare. I do not care to fight on an empty stomach or unprepared"
Lord P bowed,
"Just a servant holy father"
His high pitched voice sounding that of a child's
"That is generous of you. Strange though allowing a pagan like me to look about your library" She says raising a brow but then again Christians were weird.
Strange though it might seem, my lady, there are some things hidden in the Vatican vaults that are fit only for pagan eyes... responds the Pope, apparently unfazed by Mwikali's admission of paganism.
She turns to look at the Disguise of Lord P and speaks."He can speak for himself. At least he usually does" She looks back to the pope and then the others.
Pope Eugene gazes with a weird smile at the young boy... A smile that makes Mwikali and Lord Perpireen a little uncomfortable...
"We should once we are done find some food and then prepare. I do not care to fight on an empty stomach or unprepared"
My chefs are preparing a grand feast for you in my kitchens.
Lord P bowed,
"Just a servant holy father"
His high pitched voice sounding that of a child's
"Let the little children come unto me," said Our Lord Jesus Christ... grins Pope, extending his arms toward the youth...
Now lord P was intrigued,
"So said Paul who never meet Jesus, when he had the gospels written. James felt his brother ment that ALL should come until the kingdom of heaven and Marry more then once said her son loved all of man equality. Holy Father"
Now lord P was intrigued,
"So said Paul who never meet Jesus, when he had the gospels written. James felt his brother ment that ALL should come until the kingdom of heaven and Marry more then once said her son loved all of man equality. Holy Father"
The holy father's face blushes momentarily, and he chuckles...
Ah... Children say the most delightful things... You are an astute and well-versed boy, surprising for one so young... Hehehehe...
Meanwhile, at his palace in the Palatinate of the Rhine, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund lies on his sickbed, wracked with spasms and coughing up globs of dark blood, which stains his bedding and night clothes.
He stares wide-eyed, stricken with fear, at phantoms and demons unseen by his physicians, nurses, and servants, and intermittently groans in pain as his limbs seize up.
Some evil necromantic disease has afflicted him, its source unknown, but feared to be an attack by the Devil on His Imperial Majesty. Remove disease spells cast regularly on him by the Imperial Chaplain ease his torment only temporarily; within hours, the mysterious malady returns to plague the emperor.
Oh mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen?
The young boy looked hard and long that the celibate prist that seem very very interesting in getting all huggy with young human boys.
The young boy looked hard and long that the celibate prist that seem very very interesting in getting all huggy with young human boys.
Lord Perpireen detects something very unholy about the "Holy Father"... There is a hint of lechery in his eyes... Also, he is hiding something significant...
The Fey are well acquainted with the use of illusions and glammers to disguise themselves as something else, and Lord Perpireen suspects that this Pope is not what he appears to be... or who he appears to be, perhaps...
At that very moment, many leagues away to the northwest, on the coast of Normandy, the French King Charles VII, the Dauphin du France, takes advantage of Wormwood's devastating rampages to reclaim Normandy from the English. Having marched up from Rouen with siege cannons, knights, infantry, and crossbowmen to take back everything except for the port of Calais thus far, the Dauphin now sits astride his armored destrier Clovis, watching his cannon blast a breach in the soot-blackened city wall on the southeast side of Calais.
His mind wanders momentarily...
To think: just seven years ago, I was languishing in a secret cell in the Catacombs under Paris, while a doppelganger sat upon my throne. If not for the Lusty Fools, I might have died there... I might be there still, praying for liberty or for a merciful death... May God ever bless Sir Alphonse Du Veritas, English knight and Lusty Fool... He could have killed me right there on finding me in that cell. He could have let the other Lusty Fools ransom me or sell me to the English dukes... But he treated me with chivalry, and he and the other Lusty Fools liberated me, and restored me to my throne. I shall find some way to repay them, some day, God willing...
"You must exsuse me a moment holy Father"
Says lord P then walks away from the pope and behind a piller. There he casts analyze-aura
Coming back he once more looks at this pope.
"You must exsuse me a moment holy Father"
Says lord P then walks away from the pope and behind a piller. There he casts analyze-auraComing back he once more looks at this pope.
"You must exsuse me a moment holy Father"
Says lord P then walks away from the pope and behind a piller. There he casts analyze-auraComing back he once more looks at this pope.
Alignment is magically hidden.
Emotions: fear, excitement, lust for the boy.
Health: oddly, has no health aura.
Magical: strong necromancy and abjuration.
Pope Eugenius sighs and clasps his hands. Addressing all of the Mighty Ones, he inquires: What was the greatest foe you faced in King Solomon's Mines, my champions? And what was the most valuable treasure you found there? Legends tell of the fabled Heart of King Solomon Diamond, a jewel the size of a man's head! Are the tales true? Did you find it?
|
Johann glances around at the crowded palace floor, and even he can't help but try to hide the truth to the pope, remembering how mad those earth elementals were when he stole it.
"Uh... yes we found it, but we decided that such a treasure should remain hidden and safe." Since the diamond is in his handy haversack, Johann can't help but clutch that item in his pocket.
Lord P as a child holds his hands between his legs like he wants to have a pee. He walks over to Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper and indicates he wishes to whisper in his ear.
If Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper leans down, Lord P will say.
"This pope is hiding the fact he is undead, I can tell, he has no life and is using magic to hide if he is good or not, test for yourself"
Then looks as if he is heading off to the water closet.
Monday, September 2nd, 1437 AD, noon, at Leeds Castle in south England, County Kent:
The Company of All The Young Dudes, consisting of suli barbarian Brutalitops, Norse aasimar multiclass adventurer Olaf of the Flying Glaive, Badger the wood elf druid priestess and her stalwart dire badger companion Mugwart, Mahari Stubbs the catfolk rogue, Sister Sally the heretical human nun cleric, Flick the female tiefling arcanist, and Neapolitan aasimar cleric Arturo Bandini, have returned from their quest to Ben Nev in the Scottish Highlands, highest peak of the British Isles, where the female adult turquoise dragon Grossevapour has her lair.
The ingenious Company of All the Young Dudes have succeeded in persuading the neutral evil turquoise dragoness to fly down to Leeds Castle (which she sacked and left in ruins) to meet with adult male copper dragon Kupferflügel of the Black Forest, who hates her father, the ancient green dragon Grunrreaver, who gassed Paris on the infamous St Valentine Day Holocaust.
First, the dragons size each other up, and start out insulting one another.
Kupferflügel: What is this fat, old nag you have brought me!? You expect me to mate with zis ugly old cow!? Surely, you kid me, Young Dudes!
Grossevapour: Why, you rude, ungrateful, boorish pig!! I should lower myself to let this little nerd breed wis moi, the voluptuous Grossevapour, the only turquoise dragoness on Earth!?
Kupferflügel: I don't care if she is a rarity... Look at that ugly mug! And that fat, wrinkly ass! I cannot do it, mein friends, I am sorry!
Grossevapour: Eww!! You'll pay for your insolence. Little Copperwing! Prepare to die, you belligerent little shit!!
The dragons clash in vicious combat, each immune to the other's corrosive breath, but vulnerable to claws, bites, wing buffets and tail slaps.
Olaf of the Flying Glaive charges the wealthy folk of Kent an admission fee of 10 golden pounds to spectate as the dragons battle in the air over Leeds Castle, racking up quite a profit.
After an hour of tussling and name calling, the dragons become mutually aroused and begin to mate! Olaf raises the admission fee for spectators to 15 golden pounds a piece!
"The greatest foe? Well, that must have been the malebranche! Wouldn't you say so, Johann?" says the Fox in answer to the pope's other question.
Lord P as a child holds his hands between his legs like he wants to have a pee. He walks over to Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper and indicates he wishes to whisper in his ear.
If Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper leans down, Lord P will say.
"This pope is hiding the fact he is undead, I can tell, he has no life and is using magic to hide if he is good or not, test for yourself"
Then looks as if he is heading off to the water closet.
Alphonse frowns at Perpireen's words. He does not quite believe him outright, but has never known the fey to lie about such important matters.
"Something has been brought to my attention, your Holiness. It appears some believe you are not as you seem. This could simply be a mistake, of course. I have a simple test to prove otherwise if you would be willing to undertake it?"
Lord P as a child holds his hands between his legs like he wants to have a pee. He walks over to Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper and indicates he wishes to whisper in his ear.
If Alphonse Veritas, Oathkeeper leans down, Lord P will say.
"This pope is hiding the fact he is undead, I can tell, he has no life and is using magic to hide if he is good or not, test for yourself"
Then looks as if he is heading off to the water closet.
Alphonse frowns at Perpireen's words. He does not quite believe him outright, but has never known the fey to lie about such important matters.
"Something has been brought to my attention, your Holiness. It appears some believe you are not as you seem. This could simply be a mistake, of course. I have a simple test to prove otherwise if you would be willing to undertake it?"
Oh? *sigh*... Well, I suppose I must understand your concerns, and your precautions... I have nothing to hide, I assure you...
Do what you will, good Sir Alphonse du Veritas...
"The greatest foe? Well, that must have been the malebranche! Wouldn't you say so, Johann?" says the Fox in answer to the pope's other question.
Aha! So, the Wise King of Israel and Judea bound a cornugon to guard his greatest treasures, aye?
Grossevapour conceives a clutch of beryllium dragons. Unique on Earth, and flies back to her lair in the Scottish Highlands.
Kupferflügel flies back to his lair in the Black Forest.
The Company of All The Young Dudes collect a considerable amount of gold from spectators, and word of the extraordinary spectacle spreads throughout County Kent, Wales, and the rest of England, Ireland and Scotland.
Oh? *sigh*... Well, I suppose I must understand your concerns, and your precautions... I have nothing to hide, I assure you...
Do what you will, good Sir Alphonse du Veritas...
"I thank you for your cooperation. Relax, and allow the spell to take effect on you. If you are who you say, you shall suffer no harm." Alphonse says.
His "test" is simple. First, he Smites the Pope. Then, clutching his cross in hand he says a short prayer to God, and unleashes a wave of holy energy, which covers all nearby.
Oh? *sigh*... Well, I suppose I must understand your concerns, and your precautions... I have nothing to hide, I assure you...
Do what you will, good Sir Alphonse du Veritas..."I thank you for your cooperation. Relax, and allow the spell to take effect on you. If you are who you say, you shall suffer no harm." Alphonse says.
His "test" is simple. First, he Smites the Pope. Then, clutching his cross in hand he says a short prayer to God, and unleashes a wave of holy energy, which covers all nearby.