==== Summary 211: Secret of Su (2019-03-08) ==== [[Giraine]] [[summaries-2019|Summaries]] ---- Hello, You looked down at the fallen form of the Kozoru, Strelvak Ever-Hungry. Bog and Miguel were haunted by longings for that tenebrous ecstacy of its warm embrace; the feeling of contact with an insatiable hunger and an escape from the bleak, empty cold of darkness. They felt uncertain what to do, but Miguel was sure more needed to be done. Some of you with knowledge of heroquesting realized that this is a mundane heroquest (i.e. mainly on the mortal plane, but drawing other planes such as the Hero Plane closer; and overlap w/past time that has mythical resonance with the present). So stakes are lower and mythical overlap less extreme BUT there are still stations here: one must solve the problem of each station, or cave, before proceeding, or disaster will be certain. You also realized that the Shattering was a mythical reenactment of the Darkness of pre-Time, and there must be more to this metaphor... Experimenting with various ways of ridding this room of the blight of the Kozoru, you found that darkness and cold seemed to do something to its anti-shadow form. The basin (later you realized this was something like a coffin or grave, with shadowy material instead of soil) was similarly responsive. Miguel tried invoking Subere's power of Attack Soul, and the Kozoru's form vanished... but something gnawed at the back of his mind; a lingering doubt. Was he rid of this menace? He felt confident to move on, and was able to pick the Adamant arrow back up. The hallway past the stairs at the end of the small chamber expanded to 10m wide and about 4m deep. Straight ahead there was a yawning hell-black pit, surrounded by fragments of coal and lead, and deep cracks in the stonework of the floor. Behind it was another pit, but surrounded by rune-carved stonework and other ritual symbols that, while bearing many deep scratches like sword-slashes, still were recognizable as Darkness and Magic runes. The left and right ends of the chamber extended into passages that continued about 4m further before each ends at another stonework-pit. While the entire space here was dark, the darkness had gaps in it, like weeping wounds or scars of un-dark that hurt Darksense/sight to behold, and the darkness clung to the skin with a harsh, abrasive feeling like something was clawing or gnawing at every exposed bit of flesh. There was no time to inspect closer as you came in. Immediately a powerful vision of the past hit you: the place is intact, and cool comforting darkness hangs everywhere. A song about Wonderhome weaves through it in Darktongue: a priestess is singing (indeed, this was Miguel compelled to sing on the quest; in aspect of Morgslod) of the Seven Darks and their roles in and beyond Wonderhome. The vision focuses on a rotund, rough-hewn sculpture which Darksenses as being made of coal, with three lead rings around it. The priestess, now revealed to be faceless and cowled, steps back in shock as the silence of her shrine is shattered by a vile intruding force that ruptures the sculpture into many pieces, as a moaning void opens beneath it, blowing out foetid fumes from a disease-riddled part of Hell. She knows her foe: it had bowed to her service before, but now she feels why it is able to bring ruin upon her domain. She feels a crushing blow to the back of her head as a rumbling laugh issue from behind her: she has been betrayed, and her demise looses the bonds upon all she has kept Secret. But there is hope... with her last effort, she wills the sacred abyss behind the Defiler of the Dark closed, so one last Secret can remain hidden. And then she dies, and to add to the horror, her son Strelvak feasts upon her bloodied corpse. Miguel stood stunned while events unfolded quickly. Out of the cracked pit that same foetid blew, moans issued, and an evil green hue was seen. You had a little time to prepare as the enemy came. A form rose with the glow, and a cackling green troll-skull wreathed in the same sickly flame faintly was visible to Miguel from the Spirit Plane-it sought to rend his soul back to Hell, as a Death Spirit. The demon that manifested spoke in Darktongue: "This is my darkness! Only I, Defiler of the Dark, may be worshipped here! Yield to my vast infernal power and I will bless you with its strengths! You have enemies in your world, they are of the hated Light, wielders of flameswords, gold-greedy and obese with lust for domination! Pledge yourself to me and I will aid you to slaughter them in their sleep; make their dreams drip with vectors of plague; make their wives' bellies burst with monstrous infants! This is my offer! This darkness is not your concern, but your paltry world is yours to remake!" [its offer to help defeat the Rokari was not very compelling, but cunning nonetheless] Boamund wouldn't make much small talk and you prepared spells, which it noticed and thus charged into combat. While the Defiler was very fearsome, it faced three of you (as Miguel struggled with the spirit; and soon won) in melee, and you quickly dealt it mortal blows; so it fell back into the green abyss with a vengeful howl. You'd won! Darkness spilled out of the pit behind that green abyss, and you felt the presence of Su, the fourth and primal hell-dark; blinded in its cold embrace. Comforted, Miguel reached out to it as Subere's representative. The Helldark whispered to him: (1) he learned Language- Darktongue; (2) he learned of the secret, worst evil that has probed the depths of Su: Strelvak was driven by lies of that evil, an unfamiliar foe using powers of the Greater Darkness, to betray the shrine here and slay and eat its carers, then bargaining with the demon and evil to wrest control of darkness here. The evil sought to keep this place secret from all; the Kozoru and Defiler were happy to jealously do so. That evil power was once called the Endernef empire of Vadel, and its agent used the name Yomil but that name was a lie. This was a revelation of Vadeli involvement in the Four Corners of Hell, specifically the Subere shrine. Endernef was the Vadeli empire in the Lesser Darkness: Double Belligerent Assault ; defeated in the Greater Darkness by Zzabur's Great Blast, which also shattered the Western holy land/heaven-on-earth of Danmalastan: Danmalastan -- these powers parallel the Shattering of Seshnela. The Shattering also paralleled the weakening of the Vadeli, Miguel thought? Could that power be accessed to fight Vadeli? The only way would be through ancient Zzaburi magic; perhaps Brithini, the oldest surviving race of the West. Miguel also won the Secret of Su: "Nowhere to Hide" a heroquest innate power to, when near darkness, to concentrate (1 MP; Willpower roll) and any lies spoken in earshot will cause the darkness to howl, giving it away. But, he gained a Passion: Uncomfortable in the Light-- Willpower rolls have added Difficulty level in the light. The voice of great mother Morgslod croaked into the chamber's helldark: "Into Su you have come and from Su you must depart, for of Su you are not. But Su sends forth the magic of Wonderhome, and beyond the sacred space of Su it will ward you while you take repose." - blackness pushed you forward, back out of the shrine. You rested in the cave where you fought the scorpions, and the darkness there, containing the power of Xiola Umbar, the benevolent dark, healed you. One station on the quest done, three to go! Departing the cave system through the narrower exit tunnel you'd not explored yet, a spirit again tried to drag you into the spirit plane, and you fought it off until Fraud(?) could spirit-bash it back to Hell. It was a nasty bubbling darkness; a Sickness spirit of Shadowbleed that would cause wounds to keep bleeding in darkness. You were fortunate to avoid its infection. Crossing the canyon, you climbed the slippery, icy, winding switchback trail to the top, where the icy-fanged maw of the cavern, surely of Himile's shrine, yawned wide. It was a difficult climb but you managed. As you entered the cave a gust blew into it, with frigid winds sucking you toward the cave, and drawing out your life-force. Bog began to tire from the bitter cold's bite. Boamund, knowing that this was a corruption of Himile's power and that he had Himile's quest-gift of "Cold as Ice", bestowed that blessing upon Fraud Shaven so he was immune to the cold. Icicles danging from the cave mouth dropped on you as you entered, and you had to dodge or cover yourselves with your shields to avoid their deadly barrage. You came to a 6m spherical cavern with a 3m wide tunnel at the far end and a 2m wide one to the right. There was an ice-ledge up on the left wall and three ice-demons, Hollri (cruel creatures of Himile) assailed you with ice-darts that they plucked off their bodies. You took some impaling wounds as you climbed up the ice-wall to face them in melee; Fraud and Bog both suffered badly. Miguel hung back and shot arrows until you knocked two of them off the ice-wall and then they knocked Bog down, and Fraud climbed down to help- then you engaged them there on the floor of the cavern and soon Boamund joined you after defeating the third one above. They had brittle ice-spears that left them a bit vulnerable in melee, forced to evade rather than parry and lose their spears, but they were vicious and merciless, fighting to the end. Fortunately, strong blows could shatter whole locations and lead to tremors that caused the whole demon to splinter apart. Victorious, you considered your next move while healing and first-aiding; although Miguel's failed first-aid left poor Bog nigh-crippled. ----