Anseis: Champion Bane
SECOND RITUAL CONDITION: No player may leave its Seat.
DERIVATIVE CONDITION: Battles shall be engaged by proxy and Champion.
Together again in Cislunar, the Company compares notes, although each member has been kept well-updated on the others' progress through the Onieromancer's dream-dispatches. The dracsadha's vision is consulted and those things that have not yet come to pass are pondered. It seems clear that although Halkem has seen the fortress of Iron Scream and Minimin has seen the temple of Mock, nobody in the company has yet seen the throne of Decad or what Pip believes must be the hall in Cronoan where Sardonicus dwells. If the visions are indeed to come to pass, perhaps the Company should now choose one of the two to visit.
Nobody is eager to take on Sardonicus, who seems to be the most immediately powerful of the Avatarchs. So Decad the corrupter is chosen for the first visit. S/he lives on Anseis, with which the Company is already familiar, and which is an island, meaning only limited troops can be stationed there. Decad, all agree, is probably the most vulnerable to a strike.
The group arms itself and calls in what allies would be most useful for such a strike: Crimson, Gules Dragon, Balefire, and cohorts. Earle and Crimson teleport the small strike force to the island.
Anseis was a dark and grim place on the Company's first visit, ruled by an iron-fisted cabal that left the common folk poverty-stricken and in constant fear of the ruthless Black Guard. As the Company steps over bodies that lie twitching and smiling in the street, it becomes clear that a reign of terror has been replaced by a reign of oblivious pleasure.
The city of Anseis lies fallow and forgotten, its people slumbering in the embrace of opiates and stranger drugs or lost to endless feasting and nonstop orgies. Caprice, as the youngest and most innocent of the group, is shocked by some of what she sees, and Hari gently takes her hand, murmuring reassurances. For not everybody's pleasure is wholesome, and anything people might fantasize about can be done here ... except, apparently, that which would involve displeasure to another.
But strange sex and exotic drugs, endless gluttony and rapturous sloth, are no new vices, and the Company recognizes them as signs of Decad's corruption. What is stranger is that the city has been made beautiful -- works of art fill the streets and cover the walls, musicians sprawl on rooftops playing lazy, wandering tunes of haunting loveliness, and poets stop in midstride to rapture over the way light refracts through glass, or a pleasing aroma, or anything else that catches their fancy at the moment. Decad's pleasures, it seems, are not all carnal; to some extent, the city has been improved, at least physically, by the Metal God's rule.
If Decad has a battle strategy, it must be to conquer by infiltration, not attack. The city is unguarded; the gates of the great palace lie open. It as if Anseis is governed by Decad's principles: to be open to all experiences, to resist nothing. And deep inside, many of the Company feel a tug of temptation at what they see. Every member of the Company has pain that could be soothed with the mindlessness of sweet drugs and satisfying sex; every member of the Company has had moments where it seems easier to simply curl up and go to sleep, or devote their lives to art instead of war. But even Halkem resists the temptation: the Company has come too far to abandon their mission and take the easy solutions Decad offers.
The throne room is easily found by following ears and noses -- music, groans of pleasure, the ring of crystal, perfumes, fine food, sweat and other bodily fluids -- all lead the way. The Company steps over and around followers of Decad who ignore them, too busy eating, drinking, hallucinating, sleeping, or fucking to be bothered by intruders.
The throne room is vast, and filled with naked bodies.
They feast, they drink, they converse, they embrace, they entertain, they laugh, they weep, they create, they give, they take -- and over them all, on a heavily padded and baroquely designed chair that seems to serve as throne, sits a hairless, perfectly formed man, covered with golden bells that have been stitched into his body. Even his mouth has been sewn shut by the little bells, which ring as he shifts, gazing across the room at the newcomers.
For a moment the Company quails -- is it Decad? But no -- it can't be. This must be Decad's Champion, Bane.
Elianora and Valere check for evil, and find it, although not in abundance. Bane is evil, there is no doubt of that, but few on the floor around his throne are evil. That is Decad's power: to attract everyone, not simply mages, or warriors, or the diseased. Anyone can fall under Decad's power, but equally, anyone can break Decad's power, given sufficient willpower and support.
Bane nods and stands, bells chiming. Many of Decad's worshippers turn and look from him to the Company, eyes dull but curious.
Gules, Earle, Minimin and Crimson all activate defensive spells, placing them both over the Company and the revellers.
The Company moves forward to attack with spell and sword. But everywhere they step, hands reach up and grab at their boots, ankles, legs, trying to pull them into the mass of orgies and drug-use and group hugs and artistic endeavors that fill the hall. The bodies rise up like a wave of flesh, pulling, dragging, blocking sight, engulfing.
ANSEIS: CHAMPION BANE II
The bells ring, their tones silver and clear, and Minimin stumbles, finding himself in the embrace of the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. She smiles admiringly at him and pulls him into a passionate kiss, one hand sliding between his legs to caress the rapidly growing bulge there.
Beside him, Gules looks around him wistfully. "Reminds me of the good old days," he sighs, as hands clutch at his clothes and are easily shaken off. "I don't suppose we could -- no, of course not. He sighs and walks over to Minimin, who is half-unclad, grabbing him and hauling him out of the press of flesh. "Come on, darling; if you want to revel in shameless debauchery, talk to me tonight."
"Ooohhh..." Minimin shakes off Gules' hand. "Can't you even let a guy grope a little? I mean, I'm 21 and it's not like I've had any time to get a date!"
"Poor baby." Gules pats his cheek. "I'm sure some of the ladies here will be terribly grateful after we've liberated them." He look around and cocks an eyebrow. "Or maybe not."
Elianora stumbles and sinks to her knees as a two-year-old presses her face against the paladin's neck. Elianora's senses are flooded with the baby-sweet scent, the soft skin, the need for love, in the child, and she loosens her grip on her sword to replace the instrument of death with the unconditional love of an infant. But then she tightens her grip once more and fights back to her feet, stubbornly disengaging from the child's grasp. "Valere?"
Halkem struggles and stumbles as a bottle is pressed to his lips. He grabs it and drinks deeply -- it's been so long! Dancing eyes meet his as men and women pull him down into their drinking circle, laughing and rattling dice with the promise of a boozy companionship he's forsaken for too long. Viris falls to the floor as he replaces the glass sword with a glass bottle.
Valere and Caprice struggle, hands clutching at them. Hari reaches out and grabs Caprice by the waist, picking up the slight girl and lifting her to one side, out of the immediate grasp of the wave of Decad victims. Both feel the electricity of the touch and a surge of desire, but Caprice tightens her grip on Palladios and fights the urge back. Blood trickles down Hari's face where he's bitten through his lip in his own fight against temptation.
"Over here," Valere shouts in reply, looking for Elianora. They are being separated, willy nilly, by the people milling about them in their own pleasurable pursuits.
Earle Remington shudders as hands try to pull him down, then vanishes and reappears behind the throne, his owl lifting off and starting to attack any who attempt to grab him.
Pip shakes off the hands with irritation and raises his sword Pavonine, then curses as he remembers, and sends a mental message to Caprice.
"Use Palladios to Banish him!" In the meantime, he calls on the power of his own sword to dazzle Decad's victims around him. They fall back and he steps forward, clearing a path to the throne.
Bane shifts, and bells ring again. This time the effect comes in the form of hallucinations, as each member of the Company is plunged into memories of his or her most pleasurable moment. Again they fight off the effects with spells and willpower, though it leaves Earle with tears running down his face and Gules looking as though somebody had punched him in the stomach.
"Now that," he says grimly, "isn't playing fair." He begins spellcasting, green rays dancing from his fingertips.
But Bane seems oblivious to the spells that Minimin, Gules, and Earle try to cast on him; green rays vaporize around him, and the mages are hesitant to use destructive spells for fear of harming the many mortal victims who loll around the throne in the throes of pleasure.
Valere and Elianora fall in behind Pip, taking advantage of the path he's clearing. Caprice raises Palladios and commands Bane to leave, but although a great shudder sends bells jingling all over his flesh, the sword cannot banish him away*.
Gules shifts his attention and begins using telekinesis to move victim away from the throne. Seeing his intent, Minimin follows suit, clearing a space for more destructive spells.
Valere, Pip, and Elianora charge, swords held high, and Bane stands at last, hands up. His skin is unnaturally resistant to damage, and the swords do little more than nick and scratch him as he dodges and parries with bare hands, bells ringing.
Earle grabs Halkem by the scruff of his neck and gives him a good shake. "C'mon, they need you," he says. Halkem tries to hit him wih a bottle.
Hari and Caprice also join the attack. Bane is trapped in place, unable to move, the temptations of his ringing bells overwhelmed by the combined magic resistances of the many swords of power around him.
Then snarls rise above the furor and three wolves streak forward: a large grey, a larger silver, and a small black. At the same time, one of the gargoyles sitting unnoticed in a corner of the room behind a pilaster uncoils and lunges, avian beak open, claws wide.
All four dash between the fighters, leaping on the throne or skulking between the warriors' feet, converging on Bane, ripping and tearing, the sound of snarls and shredding flesh mingling with the nonstop tinkle of golden bells. Though they, too, have trouble piercing Bane's resistances, slowly he is weakened beneath the onslaught. Gules and Minimin keep the area around the throne clear as Fire and Light illuminate the battle area.
Earle dodges the bottle and yanks Halkem to his feet, kicking Viris toward him. "Fight now -- drink later." Halkem curses him, grabs the sword, and moves unsteadily toward the fight, his free hand still clutching a bottle of whiskey.
Blood mixes with silver and mutes the bells as Bane staggers. Bodies push forward to rescue him, but Gules and Minimin keep them clear, as does, eventually, the largest, silver, wolf. Halkem staggers in, almost as much a danger to his friends as his foe, but when all four swords are together they seem to gain power, their names glowing brightly beneath the stain of Bane's evil blood, and blows fall more regularly.
And finally, inevitably, Bane falls, and his body dissipates in a puff of perfume, leaving nothing behind but bloodstained bells.
Everyone in the throne room, on Anseis, in the Cognoterre, feels a shift. Only a few realize what it is: the feel of an important piece being removed from the board and set to one side.
In the throneroom, wails of horror and sorrow rise as Decad's victims feel a sudden loss of pleasure, shaken from the warmth and comfort of their worship back into the cruelty of the real world. They clutch each other and keen in mourning.
The large silver wolf shapechanges and becomes a slender silver-haired aseku, familiar to the older members of the Company: Cruiscan Lan, better known to the group as Spider.
Startled eyes gaze past him as Pip, Halkem, Elianora and Valere realize who the two wolves next to him must be. They also recognize the gargoyle Vlade, whose destruction here in Anseis had sent Thax over the edge so long ago.
Disturbingly, the small black bitch-wolf -- who can only be the ex-vampire Tildy -- is pregnant.
"You are well," Cruiscan says, gazing neutrally at those who once served him. "I've heard stories of the Sun Rose Company."
The conversation is surreal in the middle of Decad's throne room, but the Company can't resist: questions are asked and answered.
Cruiscan has, as Pip had discovered, been travelling with Thax and Tildy for some time. "They're both mad," he says calmly. "Thax moreso, but Tildy's mind has also been affected by her years as undead, running with the wolves. They want to destroy evil; I've guided and protected them, to ensure that their judgement calls are sound.
"Thax and Tildy developed a spell to restore Vlade's body and, they hoped, his soul. The three of us came here disguised as supplicants. As you can see, the spell was successful. I understand part of that is Persifal's doing.
"We have been living in this palace for several weeks, trying to decide how best to attack. Your entrance was an opportunity we couldn't pass up." Cruiscan looks at the two wolves, who are licking blood from their fur. "Can you take us off Anseis?"
He meets Cruiscan's gaze. "It is good to see you again Spider. Our enemies are countless, but our allies are few and far between. These are dark times but seeing all of you again reminds me that hope remains. Thank you for taking care of them. Anything you need, we will gladly supply."
Cruiscan nods.
"A place for them; and then I'll do what I can to help. Another sword."
Pip kneels down and gently holds out a hand for Thax. "I've missed you my friend. I'm sorry that my best was never enough to keep you and those you love safe from harm. I hope that someday you will forgive me....I hope that someday you will forgive yourself. We asked too much of you. I'm sorry."
Thax transforms back into human form, face smeared with blood, hair wild and unkempt, chin covered with stubble. He's dressed in rags. His nostrils flare in an unnervingly inhuman gesture as he sniffs Pip's fingers. Vlade scrapes over the stone to sit balefully next to Thax, stone eyes fixed on Pip's hand. The psi has no doubt that were he to make any threatening gesture, his hand would be crushed in a stone beak in seconds. Then Thax straightens slightly and puts a hand in Pip's. His hands are filthy, nails broken and dirty. The handshake is half-human, half-canine: behind his grey eyes are only shards of his broken intelligence. His mouth moves as if to speak, but no sound comes out.
Pip uses his psionics to read the words Thax cannot say: "Good." And a feeling of satisfaction at being back with people who smell right.
"I'm not certain whether sanity would be a blessing for him," Cruiscan says, looking down at them. "He does have flashes of coherence, but I don't think he really remembers, when his mind is clear, what he's done as a beast. He's best when he's been given a project to concentrate on -- like the spell to restore Vlade. Then his relapses are short, usually when he's frustrated or bored."
As if tired of being ignored, Tildy, too, changes. She's still young, perhaps no older than fourteen, thin and waiflike save for the large belly that juts out in front of her. She gives the Company a dark look, baring her small teeth, then waddles over to where Bane vanished and sniffs the floor thoroughly. She looks very close to giving birth.
Cruiscan follows the Company's gaze and shakes his head.
"I don't know," he says softly. "Whose, or what's, or even what all of this shapechanging may do to whatever's in there. Or what we're supposed to do when she gives birth."
The Company debates over what to do about Decad's victims and then decides to teleport back to Mynedd Palace in Candor to consult with experts there. Earle, Gules, and Minimin between them make a few trips and take everyone, including Cruiscan, Thax, Tildy, and Vlade, back. They are greeted with enthusiasm, for everyone felt the shift, like ionization, or a storm front moving, that indicated Something Big had happened.
More armies are gathering, and the Heshetani have returned with their airships. Sailors are learning how to run the ships under the reptilian aliens' supervision, and the warmasters of the Cognoterre are busily making strategies. A number of clerics from various denominations agree to teleport to Decad's temple to begin tending to the Metal Gods' worshippers and victims there. The Company has a little time to rest as the clean-up is taken out of its hands. However, it's soon together again in a council room, deciding its next move.
When Pip returns to Cislunar, he visits Amandiel, who is pleased to have him back again. Before he returns to Candor's palace, he'll stop and pick up some of the same pastries that they used to bring Thax when he was on duty. It's a small gesture, but one he thinks might help bring his old friend back around a little.
Thax seems nervous in the palace, and seeing people he knows -- and
eating food he recognizes -- does seem to calm him down. Pip, with his
experience analyzing mental states, has the feeling that Thax could be
brought back to sanity either by magic -- which might be a shock -- or
through prolonged work. But it's clear that Tildy is a bad influence on
him; she is possessive and selfish and Thax seems to be willing to passively
accept her commands. Pip seems to remember that about Thax: he was
extremely intelligent, but very quiet and sensitive, filled with a sense of
inferiority, and easily impressed by power.
Tildy, too, obviously needs psychological work: being near-vampirized as a preadolescent, running with the wolves and fighting back bloodlust for who knows how many years, being forced back to mortality without being given a choice, and losing one of her brothers, has clearly left her with a deep desire to cling to what little she has left. And for better or for worse, that seems to be Thax.
Caprice reports that none of the four radiate evil. Neither do they radiate good, which is a little bit of a surprise in Cruiscan's case, as a
few times Company members had speculated that he would return to his
paladinly oaths to Vair after finishing his atonement.
