Broken Angel
We had ended the previous session of our Strange Aeons game with Sheena leaping through a magical portal and us following her when we weren’t quite as prepared as we wanted to be. We were faced with a somewhat insane angel, but things went surprisingly well for us – several criticals from Sheena and Gregor aided by my own character Costian getting very lucking in succeeding to possess the creature. Doing so had been an opportunity for the GM to provide what will undoubtedly be a double-edged ‘gift’ for my psychic character. At the end of the session we get a chance to level up, balance the loot spreadsheet and prepare for the next stage.
1st Gozran, Fireday (continued)…
Before us was the angel, with flaming wings and a flaming sword, his body covered with scars. He let out an agonised cry which left us shaken. I tried to talk to him, to ask him whether we could help him, but he flew forward, his angelic aura flowing over us and leaving us drained of strength. Sheena leapt towards him, but was unable to reach him were he hovered several dozen feet above the ground. He dropped down towards her, smiting at her with his flaming sword, speaking words even though he had no mouth.
There will be no god from mankind.
— The Keeper
There will be a god for mankind.
We were all already weakened from our previous fights, and hadn’t wanted to come down here so soon – having been forced to by Sheena who had leapt down the gateway. Ray was talking about teleporting out, so myself and Catiana retreated back towards him. I decided to try one desperate action, which was to try to possess the Keeper. And somehow, through sheer luck, I broke through the Keeper’s mental defences and took control of its body.
As I was trying to come to grips with the possibilities of my success, I could see Gregor aiming his bow at “me”, so I stood still and let him shoot me. The arrows burn “my” flesh, and then Sheena pierces “my” heart and I’m forced back into my real body as the Keeper dies, laying in shock on the floor. As it does so, a piece of it comes with me.
What had left us scared for our lives turned out to be not a huge threat, at least partly because I had managed to stop it in its tracks. As it’s body disintegrates into ash, we all hear the voice of the elf in our heads.
Come. He may have the tome, but it is not too late. Come now!
What the elf said the eleventh time
We are all weakened though, Erasmus especially who could barely lift his rucksack anymore. As Catiana checks me to make sure that I’m okay, there’s possibly something in her eyes that I don’t recognise. Maybe a reflection of myself that was not there before, or something that has touched her through our link.
I have a memory that isn’t mine – a feeling of wanting to destroy that book – the one that Lowles took. He had grabbed the book and teleported away before the Keeper had been able to lock down the place against teleportation. There was a dimensional lock in place now, and somehow I knew how to undo it. So I did.
Looking around the room there were a lot of books here – most of them things that should never be read. Possibly ones that should never have been written. I knew that the Keeper’s mission, its very reason for being, was to prevent the knowledge in these books from reaching the outside world. And in this it(he? I’m not sure) had failed, and in so doing it had lost part of its reason for existing. It had not lost touch with its Celestial nature, but had been torn and broken by its failure to fulfil its mission.
We left the room, taking with us a strange firearm that Lowles had left behind (I recognised its type from stories I’d heard about from Numeria) when he stole the book. A couple of levels up, and we stop to argue about where to go next. I really want to get back to the outside and meet with Elder Thyrr to ensure that the library was now unsealed. The others wanted to loot things first.
In the end, I decide to head off upstairs, just as the aerial servant that had attacked us earlier returned. Gregor killed it without too much excitement, and as I and Catiana head up the stairs, a second one attacks. We both quickly flee up the stairs and let the others deal with it. Unable to see it, we wouldn’t be much use against it.
Up at the library door, I knock loudly and it is opened by Elder Thyrr, who is initially worried that we are the only survivors. I explain that the others are still below, and that we are all in serious need of healing. The Elder is able to heal me, and we head back down to meet up.
Makian Mun is still where we left him, and we haul him back up to the surface to stand trial for his crimes, and also to hopefully get some more information out of him. The guards who had locked themselves away are persuaded that it is now safe, and the body of Elder Lythiin is taken back to the Temple in order to be resurrected.
2nd Gozran, Starday
We have time now to rest and try to find out what we can from the library about our mission. Our direction is probably towards the city of Neruzavin, but we don’t know where it is. The librarians do find one reference in their library, though it is not entirely complete:
The Shory were an ancient people who traveled the world in great flying cities during the Age of Destiny and created the Shory Empire. Their flying cities, and many other wonders, were accomplished through the use of a form of long-forgotten magic known as Aeromantic Infadibulum. The ruined Temple of Acavna in the Shory empire had a record of their expedition to look for Neruzavin. The leader of the expedition had been Upianshe. What they knew was that the city had been built by an otherworldly race who had come to Golarian from the Dark Tapestry. They built many great works before they were betrayed.
After Elder Lythiin had been raised, he was able to tell us some more about Lowles, and that he and his guards had been talking about going to the city of Okeno to meet Biting Lash there. We’d heard about this before, but had assumed Lowles had headed there before coming here to Katheer. If he was heading to meet the slaver Biting Lash next, then it meant we knew where to go.
We did need some days to rest up though. The librarians offered to provide us with what they could, though they didn’t have much in the way of material wealth. An offer of skills and time to enchant things for us though would be helpful, and maybe some chance at training and studying as well.
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