After exploring the ground floor of Rapax castle, including the kitchens, with their unsavoury corpses, the friends wandered down one of the three spiral staircases to the cellar. They could hear brawling ahead and approached cautiously, eventually coming to a room with a bar and numerous kegs of the Rapax tipple, bonecrusher brew. The drunk and intoxicated Rapax seemed to have some sort of disagreement amongst themselves, with some of the senior samurai annoyed at the lack of respect of the drunken soldiers with whom they shared the bar.
"Let's leave them to it." suggested Karen
Sadly, the samurai took the friends to be enemies too, and so the friends mopped up the intoxicated fools quickly, leaving the drunken soldiers to collapse into unconsciousness. Quentin was quickly nosing around the untended bar, and scooped up a few bottles of the powerful spirit.
Down one corridor they found the castle constable in his office, even more drunk then the Rapax in the bar. They couldn't get any conversation out of him except slurring, so they left him there.
The other corridor off the bar led to two dormitories. The first contained a couple of sleepy Rapax, who were not pleased with being awoken. Sadly for them, they weren't in any condition to present a challenge to the friends. Karen displayed her annoyance with being attacked when leaving by dispatching the stupid creatures on her own.
The friends raided the chest in the room and wandered down the corridor to the next dormitory. They searched around for a bit more loot, and Margreet spotted a secret passage in the back of the room, seeing the faint line down the wall that marked the door. Some shoving by Karen and Quentin displaced the heavy stone door and the friends edged into the narrow corridor. It wasn't long, and when Karen and Quentin pushed aside the similar door at the far end they found themselves face to face with a Rapax jail guard, the door opening just behind his desk.
He stretched for his whistle, sitting on the desk, but Quentin lunged forwards to barge him away. Karen started laying into the guard, and Shu Ting emerged quickly to finish the slaughter.
They found themselves inside the gaol, and the cell locks presented quite a challenge to Salva, so they only tried three; one with some blankets in, that might have hidden something, one with a prisoner who was, yet again, drunk. They got nothing from him or his cell. The final one they tried had some new brickwork at the back, and they opened the cell to investigate. Karen punched the wall with her plated fist and the wall moved a little, dust shaking out of the mortar. A few more punches broke the wall down, revealing a passage that they followed.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
Animal rights
'Derek: Try me. I would honestly like to know what it is that makes it ok to eat cows but not humans. But if you aren't articulate enough to explain it then don't bother.
CG: How can I explain this to Derek?'
Cows are incapable of giving consent to the rights and responsibilities of society. They therefore do not get the same rights as those who do.
Longer answer:
Firstly, no, there are some humans who cannot give consent. Typically, they already have or might in the future (disabled people and babies respectively). You could build an argument about that.
If he queries why consent is important, you can similarly ask why the ability to suffer is important, that probably being the basis of his views. Both are arbitrarily chosen. He can use the argument to query your opinions, but his opinions are just as vulnerable. The conclusion therefore is certainly not to avoid eating cows.
Next up, he'll ask why rights and responsibilities go together: why a cow must consent to the responsibilities of society before it can have rights. At this stage we have to admit that it could be granted legal protections by society without consenting to them, but we will also point out that there is no over-riding moral justification for such protections.
Rights and responsibilities go together because they are the inverse of one another. The right not to be murdered is simply everyone else having a responsibility not to murder you.
At this stage we are getting into quite fundamental ideas about whether rights are fundamental and universal, which they quite clearly are not.
You could say that it is incredible that he can imagine an obligation governing a person who has not consented to it. That's a perfect description of a fundamental right: if a cow has a fundamental right not to be eaten, then this is the same as an obligation on me not to eat it, despite me never agreeing to such a thing.
You could also ask him whether predators in the wild are criminals. He will probably come up with some foolish notion that 'they know no better'. We can ignore his assumption of superiority, and bring up an interesting point of established law:
ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it.
We can also wonder why being able to think suddenly gives us obligations, without even consenting.
Let us quote a wise old man (Albus Dumbledore): 'it is the choices we make that truly determine who we are'.
Thinking is not a choice. Consent is the choice. Consent is the action. If I am a criminal simply by virtue of my ability to think then I have been condemned for something that I cannot control.
That is the morality of fundamental rights. They grant rights on the basis of characteristics that are beyond the control of the being that is being given those rights, and are also beyond the control of the beings that must respect those rights. Fundamental rights therefore impose responsibilities, based solely on the belief of the person ascribing those fundamental rights. If we're going to choose arbitrary characteristics, we could just as easily choose humanity as the characteristic that determines whether a being gets rights or not.
On the other hand, if we believe that such an imposition is impossible to justify, the only way that responsibilities can govern a being is if that being has consented to them. This makes much more sense, since the consequences (being wrong or right in a moral sense) are now dependent on our actions, not on arbitrary characteristics such as being able to think, and we typically view moral judgement as being a way of judging actions.
CG: How can I explain this to Derek?'
Cows are incapable of giving consent to the rights and responsibilities of society. They therefore do not get the same rights as those who do.
Longer answer:
Firstly, no, there are some humans who cannot give consent. Typically, they already have or might in the future (disabled people and babies respectively). You could build an argument about that.
If he queries why consent is important, you can similarly ask why the ability to suffer is important, that probably being the basis of his views. Both are arbitrarily chosen. He can use the argument to query your opinions, but his opinions are just as vulnerable. The conclusion therefore is certainly not to avoid eating cows.
Next up, he'll ask why rights and responsibilities go together: why a cow must consent to the responsibilities of society before it can have rights. At this stage we have to admit that it could be granted legal protections by society without consenting to them, but we will also point out that there is no over-riding moral justification for such protections.
Rights and responsibilities go together because they are the inverse of one another. The right not to be murdered is simply everyone else having a responsibility not to murder you.
At this stage we are getting into quite fundamental ideas about whether rights are fundamental and universal, which they quite clearly are not.
You could say that it is incredible that he can imagine an obligation governing a person who has not consented to it. That's a perfect description of a fundamental right: if a cow has a fundamental right not to be eaten, then this is the same as an obligation on me not to eat it, despite me never agreeing to such a thing.
You could also ask him whether predators in the wild are criminals. He will probably come up with some foolish notion that 'they know no better'. We can ignore his assumption of superiority, and bring up an interesting point of established law:
ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it.
We can also wonder why being able to think suddenly gives us obligations, without even consenting.
Let us quote a wise old man (Albus Dumbledore): 'it is the choices we make that truly determine who we are'.
Thinking is not a choice. Consent is the choice. Consent is the action. If I am a criminal simply by virtue of my ability to think then I have been condemned for something that I cannot control.
That is the morality of fundamental rights. They grant rights on the basis of characteristics that are beyond the control of the being that is being given those rights, and are also beyond the control of the beings that must respect those rights. Fundamental rights therefore impose responsibilities, based solely on the belief of the person ascribing those fundamental rights. If we're going to choose arbitrary characteristics, we could just as easily choose humanity as the characteristic that determines whether a being gets rights or not.
On the other hand, if we believe that such an imposition is impossible to justify, the only way that responsibilities can govern a being is if that being has consented to them. This makes much more sense, since the consequences (being wrong or right in a moral sense) are now dependent on our actions, not on arbitrary characteristics such as being able to think, and we typically view moral judgement as being a way of judging actions.
Friday, 29 January 2010
The adventure
Ferro, as the smith turned out to be called, greeted them politely.
"I wondered when I would be seeing you," he started. When he saw their startled faces he continued, "Oh yes, I know about you. You've been the talk of Rapax Castle since your arrival in the Courtyard. Excuse my curiosity, but are you the interrogators the King requested? I am surprised that you have not yet become Templars. You would have less trouble with my brother and sister Rapax."
When their expressions changed from startled to confused, he continued more:
"But you haven't come here for conversation, have you? You must want my weapons and armour?"
They examined his offering but pressed him for information as delicately as they could. They found out that the Templars were typically Rapax, but not always; that they were devoted to Al-Sedexus. The Rapax King was away with the army, and had captured a T'Rang and an Umpani who wouldn't talk. He refused to talk about his brother, Antone, saying that he can speak for himself, and was not to be drawn further.
His selection of goods was impressive, and they spent a great deal of their money on some of his best items. They bought a golden breastplate for Karen, some platinum greaves that they gave to Vi, robes of rejuvenation and some snakeskin boots for Quentin, a cloak of many colours for RFS and, most prized of all, an Infinity Helm that they gave to Shu Ting. This precious item was imbued with potent regenerative magic, giving her a seemingly endless supply of energy, restoring her health and also capable of replenishing magic; the robes of rejuvenation were the next best buy, but did all these things on a much lesser scale.
They heard some footsteps, and Salva saw on his scanner a horde of Rapax approaching. They retreated further into the armoury stores. At the back of the armoury they found a heavy lift that could haul items up to a second floor built into the capacious space of the armoury. They used it to winch themselves up but the half-floor was hardly a decent retreat, and hiding in a corner seemed a bad way to impress Ferro.
They jumped down again and rushed past the closest entrance onto the corridor, and back to the room that served more as Ferro's display room than the smithy proper, which had its own entrance onto the corridor. According to Salva's scanner, some of the Rapax were coming down the short, L-shaped connecting corridor. They ambushed the leading Rapax in that connecting corridor, starting a battle with three Rapax warlocks, 6 samurai, 9 beserkers and a courtesan. In the corridor they were happily slicing the beserkers apart one by one, stepping over the bodies and getting closer to the crowd in the main corridor, but Salva noticed that two beserkers had run round to the other side, and they could hear them slicing into Ferro.
Ferro needed protecting, and they had to run back to use their healing magic on Ferro.
Quentin found a use for a spell that he had been practising, but had thought would not be very useful. He called it 'eye for an eye', and, following his principles of justice (much to Margreet's annoyance) it would reflect a spell back on the caster and allies, ensuring that everyone was affected by a spell. He used it a number of times over the battle, and it proved very effective, the warlocks and courtesan casting powerful immobilising spells repeatedly, which affected the friends little, thanks to their protective magic, but kept the hordes occupied so that only a trickle came at once.
The best effect of it was to freeze the two beserkers attacking Ferro, who formed a wall of flesh protecting him from others, who would charge the friends instead, and die very quickly.
The last ones to die were the courtesan and a warlock who had followed the two beserkers round the other entrance.
The friends, burdened by their loot from the courtyard, teleported back to Arnika, and sold it on to Antone and He'Li. Salva, whose ability to work magic into his gadgets was growing all the time, adjoined the giant bellows from Ferro's forge to a hose that they had found, with a small portal to the ocean. He left it there, still wondering how it might be used.
In Arnika, they found that the Savant had created an even better version of his android, called slashers. They packed quite a punch, but were sadly unable to land their punches, little RFS, a supposedly inferior version, showing that good repair and a learning environment were far more important by tearing a slasher apart himself.
Quentin teleported them back to the armoury, where the guard was still waiting.
Eventually he moved on, and they left quickly, to avoid entangling Ferro in any disagreements with the other inhabitants: if he could make another infinity helm and more snakeskin boots they would be must-buy items.
They passed through the main entrance hall, renewing their magical enchantments there, and came to another large chamber, surrounded by a balcony, to which there were two ramps, both opposite the entrance they were spying around the corner of, but opposite each other on the sides of the room. Between them was a great throne, by which stood three archers and three guards. The friends charged these archers, putting their backs to the wall by the throne and getting their blows in before any of the Rapax in the room could respond.
The fight was leasy. Without magical support the Rapax in the room were so much meat to be butchered; Shu Ting had learned quickly the weaknesses of the Rapax form, landing a number of finely-aimed critical strikes. Despite their magical equipment, the fight was tiring, and Quentin did need to use his magic to boost their flagging muscles, but they eventually stepped over the slippery piles of gore, collecting a few undamaged things the rapax had been carrying.
They continued to explore the castle, finding the kitchens with some unpleasant hanging meat, still in the shape of trynnie and Higardi, and a jar of pickled trynnie. They used Salva's scanner to hunt down more Rapax roaming the corridors of the ground floor, before talking to the impassive Rapax guarding the entrances on the balcony around the throne room.
These were temple guards, and when the friends agreed to be initiates to be Rapax Templars they allowed them in to the complex, where they met Al-Adryian, the initiate master. He set them to collect the three items of Al-Sedexus' Canezou from the temple, each of which was guarded by two elemental lords and a priestess, who asked them a riddle before unlocking the entrance to the next room.
The elemental lords were easy kills, and the riddles as untaxing:
'Although I am always with you, only one side do I show. Lest you see my other side where long red rivers flow. And though I feel all things, I have not a mind to know. Think well upon it now, my name, and knowing, tell me so.'
'Everything that I know, you know it, too. Yet I gain nothing lest it first comes through you. No paper walls confine me, yet a thousand stories I own. Tell me now, who am I that lives in a lonely cage of bone?'
'I have four rooms, but tables and chairs you'll not find. I am credited with feelings, yet they are not truly mine. I could be called a drummer, steady, strong, and true. And when I finish my work here, so, too, do you.'
"I wondered when I would be seeing you," he started. When he saw their startled faces he continued, "Oh yes, I know about you. You've been the talk of Rapax Castle since your arrival in the Courtyard. Excuse my curiosity, but are you the interrogators the King requested? I am surprised that you have not yet become Templars. You would have less trouble with my brother and sister Rapax."
When their expressions changed from startled to confused, he continued more:
"But you haven't come here for conversation, have you? You must want my weapons and armour?"
They examined his offering but pressed him for information as delicately as they could. They found out that the Templars were typically Rapax, but not always; that they were devoted to Al-Sedexus. The Rapax King was away with the army, and had captured a T'Rang and an Umpani who wouldn't talk. He refused to talk about his brother, Antone, saying that he can speak for himself, and was not to be drawn further.
His selection of goods was impressive, and they spent a great deal of their money on some of his best items. They bought a golden breastplate for Karen, some platinum greaves that they gave to Vi, robes of rejuvenation and some snakeskin boots for Quentin, a cloak of many colours for RFS and, most prized of all, an Infinity Helm that they gave to Shu Ting. This precious item was imbued with potent regenerative magic, giving her a seemingly endless supply of energy, restoring her health and also capable of replenishing magic; the robes of rejuvenation were the next best buy, but did all these things on a much lesser scale.
They heard some footsteps, and Salva saw on his scanner a horde of Rapax approaching. They retreated further into the armoury stores. At the back of the armoury they found a heavy lift that could haul items up to a second floor built into the capacious space of the armoury. They used it to winch themselves up but the half-floor was hardly a decent retreat, and hiding in a corner seemed a bad way to impress Ferro.
They jumped down again and rushed past the closest entrance onto the corridor, and back to the room that served more as Ferro's display room than the smithy proper, which had its own entrance onto the corridor. According to Salva's scanner, some of the Rapax were coming down the short, L-shaped connecting corridor. They ambushed the leading Rapax in that connecting corridor, starting a battle with three Rapax warlocks, 6 samurai, 9 beserkers and a courtesan. In the corridor they were happily slicing the beserkers apart one by one, stepping over the bodies and getting closer to the crowd in the main corridor, but Salva noticed that two beserkers had run round to the other side, and they could hear them slicing into Ferro.
Ferro needed protecting, and they had to run back to use their healing magic on Ferro.
Quentin found a use for a spell that he had been practising, but had thought would not be very useful. He called it 'eye for an eye', and, following his principles of justice (much to Margreet's annoyance) it would reflect a spell back on the caster and allies, ensuring that everyone was affected by a spell. He used it a number of times over the battle, and it proved very effective, the warlocks and courtesan casting powerful immobilising spells repeatedly, which affected the friends little, thanks to their protective magic, but kept the hordes occupied so that only a trickle came at once.
The best effect of it was to freeze the two beserkers attacking Ferro, who formed a wall of flesh protecting him from others, who would charge the friends instead, and die very quickly.
The last ones to die were the courtesan and a warlock who had followed the two beserkers round the other entrance.
The friends, burdened by their loot from the courtyard, teleported back to Arnika, and sold it on to Antone and He'Li. Salva, whose ability to work magic into his gadgets was growing all the time, adjoined the giant bellows from Ferro's forge to a hose that they had found, with a small portal to the ocean. He left it there, still wondering how it might be used.
In Arnika, they found that the Savant had created an even better version of his android, called slashers. They packed quite a punch, but were sadly unable to land their punches, little RFS, a supposedly inferior version, showing that good repair and a learning environment were far more important by tearing a slasher apart himself.
Quentin teleported them back to the armoury, where the guard was still waiting.
Eventually he moved on, and they left quickly, to avoid entangling Ferro in any disagreements with the other inhabitants: if he could make another infinity helm and more snakeskin boots they would be must-buy items.
They passed through the main entrance hall, renewing their magical enchantments there, and came to another large chamber, surrounded by a balcony, to which there were two ramps, both opposite the entrance they were spying around the corner of, but opposite each other on the sides of the room. Between them was a great throne, by which stood three archers and three guards. The friends charged these archers, putting their backs to the wall by the throne and getting their blows in before any of the Rapax in the room could respond.
The fight was leasy. Without magical support the Rapax in the room were so much meat to be butchered; Shu Ting had learned quickly the weaknesses of the Rapax form, landing a number of finely-aimed critical strikes. Despite their magical equipment, the fight was tiring, and Quentin did need to use his magic to boost their flagging muscles, but they eventually stepped over the slippery piles of gore, collecting a few undamaged things the rapax had been carrying.
They continued to explore the castle, finding the kitchens with some unpleasant hanging meat, still in the shape of trynnie and Higardi, and a jar of pickled trynnie. They used Salva's scanner to hunt down more Rapax roaming the corridors of the ground floor, before talking to the impassive Rapax guarding the entrances on the balcony around the throne room.
These were temple guards, and when the friends agreed to be initiates to be Rapax Templars they allowed them in to the complex, where they met Al-Adryian, the initiate master. He set them to collect the three items of Al-Sedexus' Canezou from the temple, each of which was guarded by two elemental lords and a priestess, who asked them a riddle before unlocking the entrance to the next room.
The elemental lords were easy kills, and the riddles as untaxing:
'Although I am always with you, only one side do I show. Lest you see my other side where long red rivers flow. And though I feel all things, I have not a mind to know. Think well upon it now, my name, and knowing, tell me so.'
'Everything that I know, you know it, too. Yet I gain nothing lest it first comes through you. No paper walls confine me, yet a thousand stories I own. Tell me now, who am I that lives in a lonely cage of bone?'
'I have four rooms, but tables and chairs you'll not find. I am credited with feelings, yet they are not truly mine. I could be called a drummer, steady, strong, and true. And when I finish my work here, so, too, do you.'
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
The adventure
The roughly-hewn archway led along a curving ravine and eventually they saw, ahead, the ravine blocked by two well-built walls with a gap in the middle, forming an uncovered corridor between the crenellated walls. Standing in front of this corridor were two sentries. The friends managed to charge these without them getting away to raise the alarm, and caught their breath at the foot of one of the walls whilst Salva's scanner showed a patrol coming along the top of the built walkway. They neglected to look straight down, and walked away, giving the friends time to catch a patrol of 3 Rapax in the corridor. They took a chance and continued along the corridor, which turned to the left. At the corner a bowman leaned over and saw them, taking a couple of shots, but they started running and reached the main doors, which were on the right at the end of the death trap, as 3 patrols and a samurai leader tried to close them. They died quickly, and the friends barged inside the castle as the bowman alerted the rest of the guards.
Inside the doors there were two ramps up onto the ramparts, and the friends ran up one, slaughtering two bowmen at the top of the ramp and using the crenellations to protect themselves from the archers further out on the ramparts. They strode along to the turn onto one side of the ramparts, which were split by the ravine, choosing that side because they could see an entrance that looked like a barrack-room carved into the rocky cliff-face.
At the corner they were met by a charging patrol, which didn't hold them up at all, Shu Ting scoring another quick kill, perhaps because he hadn't seen her below the wall. The next one got knocked out by Karen, but while they chopped him up one caught them from behind, slashing Salva in the back. It took some fancy footwork to turn around and get RFS and Karen at him, and he got good slashes at Quentin and Shu Ting as the party turned. With the help of Salva's regenerating stone, and Quentin's restful magic, they survived the rear assault. Everyone else, feeling full of energy again, quickly slaughtered two bowmen who had come forwards to get better shots, and towards whom they had been advancing whilst fighting their rearguard action. The scattering of bowmen left they picked off one by one before looting the barracks.
Finally they entered the castle through the second great set of metal-studden doors, coming to a small antechamber. This they looted for a few things stored in the entrance to the castle before entering the main entrance hall. This had two exits at the far end, one on each side.
They took the right, which opened onto a long corridor parralel with, but stretching beyond, the main hall. They managed to leap across it and through an entranceway not quite opposite, thinking that they had escaped the notice of a patrol that they had seen further down the corridor.
They looked around and saw that they had entered a room with a giant furnace in it. In another room adjoining it a Rapax smith was regarding them with curiosity, but not hostility. They approached him and started talking.
Inside the doors there were two ramps up onto the ramparts, and the friends ran up one, slaughtering two bowmen at the top of the ramp and using the crenellations to protect themselves from the archers further out on the ramparts. They strode along to the turn onto one side of the ramparts, which were split by the ravine, choosing that side because they could see an entrance that looked like a barrack-room carved into the rocky cliff-face.
At the corner they were met by a charging patrol, which didn't hold them up at all, Shu Ting scoring another quick kill, perhaps because he hadn't seen her below the wall. The next one got knocked out by Karen, but while they chopped him up one caught them from behind, slashing Salva in the back. It took some fancy footwork to turn around and get RFS and Karen at him, and he got good slashes at Quentin and Shu Ting as the party turned. With the help of Salva's regenerating stone, and Quentin's restful magic, they survived the rear assault. Everyone else, feeling full of energy again, quickly slaughtered two bowmen who had come forwards to get better shots, and towards whom they had been advancing whilst fighting their rearguard action. The scattering of bowmen left they picked off one by one before looting the barracks.
Finally they entered the castle through the second great set of metal-studden doors, coming to a small antechamber. This they looted for a few things stored in the entrance to the castle before entering the main entrance hall. This had two exits at the far end, one on each side.
They took the right, which opened onto a long corridor parralel with, but stretching beyond, the main hall. They managed to leap across it and through an entranceway not quite opposite, thinking that they had escaped the notice of a patrol that they had seen further down the corridor.
They looked around and saw that they had entered a room with a giant furnace in it. In another room adjoining it a Rapax smith was regarding them with curiosity, but not hostility. They approached him and started talking.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The adventure
The friends offloaded their valuable haul to Antone, and mixed up a few more potions from what they'd managed to find. Salva took some time to tinker with his gun once again, as he had been doing whenever they had free time, but this time his tinkering impinged onto the others because he announced that he'd like now to use arrows or quarrels, rather than the spiked stones that he shared with Margreet and Quentin for their slings.
They hunted some of the Savant's orbs in the spaceport and met some new types of androids outside again; android beserkers and gunners. They were quickly demolished by two Higardi patrols, Myles and the friends. They picked up the giant silver nugget from their room in He'Li's inn, and Quentin teleported them back to Rapax Rift, annoying Vi.
"I told you that I don't like being here!" she barked at them
"I'm sorry," admitted Quentin. "I just feel some sort of deep bond between us and I don't want to cut it."
The comment induced choking sounds from beside them.
They realised that there were parts of the rift that they hadn't explored, so they found their way over, and there, having killed two undead rapax corpses, they met the last prisoner in a separate cell, called Rafe. Rafe was much more sane than the others that they had freed. He explained that he was marked for sacrifice to the lava lord and that only the staff of ash could remove the mark; until then he could not leave the rift safely. Al-Sedexus holds all prisoner. It was his opinion that her cult had taken over the Rapax, and that from worshipping her they were now ruled by her. He didn't believe, or comprehend, when they told him that the Lava Lord was dead, but when Quentin produced the staff of ash he was overjoyed.
"Now unlock my cage," he asked, eagerly. "These bars are all that stand between me and my freedom."
His cage was controlled by a combination lock of three dials. Thankfully, each dial only had three options. They unlocked it on the 24th attempt.
Rafe was overjoyed, but stayed to teach them about the rift for a few minutes. He explained that the beckoning stone summoned Al-Sedexus' creature, and that only in his presence would the door to her chamber open. He explained that the Templar Rapax had managed to get the Rapax to march on the rest of Dominus, led by Al-Sedexus' desires and against sensible judgement.
He finally, however, grew too fearful of being caught by Rapax patrols or the lava lord himself, and fled, never to be seen again.
Salva's scanner allowed them to ambush 4 samurais and 8 veterans just coming out of one of the roughly-hewn corridors that led to the prisoners' area. Shu Ting placed a perfect blow through the head of the lead samurai, and in the tight corridor Quentin's magical ego whip caused bubbling blood to stream out of a number of muzzles. Margreet cast her quicksand spell, but it failed.
The samurais were too tough to be scared by a clean kill and a bit of magic, and magically webbed Karen and Quentin. 6 of the veterans, on the other hand, retreated towards the other end of the corridor. RFS and Shu Ting did a double-team move on one of the remaining veterans, and the combined effects of the samurais' magic missiles and whirlwinds killed RFS. Karen had quickly broken free of her webbing, and the chums were finishing off the samurais when the veterans returned. Quentin finished the last samurai off, and turned to reboot RFS leaving the others in a slog-fest of crunching blows, out of which there could only be one winner: Karen. Salva's regenerating stone was necessary twice, to heal their wounds from the samurais' magic, and during the fighting, and Quentin aided them with another spell from his expanding magical arsenal, this time leaching away their exhaustion, which was a concern for the energetic Shu Ting and RFS, and for Salva, whose stone sapped a lot of his stamina.
One of the veterans trapped Salva against the wall of the corridor and sliced him up. Moments before he expired Margreet healed him to new, but he fainted with the amazing changes he was undergoing, and the rapax killed him with two more blows. By this time only one other veteran was alive, and the juggernaught of the friends mowed it down, Vi caught Salva's mortal enemy with her mystic spear before anyone had a chance to close with it, and Quentin raised Salva from the dead once more.
They made their way back through the rift, encountering plenty more rapax. At first three veterans on their own provided mere practice at finding soft spots for Shu Ting, but then they ambushed a troop of 7 patrols and three initiates. The group gradually surrounded the friends, but died too quickly for it to be worrying. Further along they met another such patrol, and they were seen before they had managed to completely spring their ambush. Perhaps simply attacking the lead enemy, or perhaps showing unusual acumen, but probably from the acute mental haemorrhaging Quentin caused in them, they focussed their efforts on Shu Ting, but failed to hit the whirling bundle of death except on her swords or armour. The end of the fight consisted of inventing new ways to chop up rapax, their unconscious bodies lying in the corridor where they had fallen, helped by the mental blasting and the toxic cloud Margreet cast over them. Despite their attacks, Shu Ting even found time to aim the siege arbalest she carried in place of a crossbow well enough to rip a throat out of one of the initiates from a distance.
Once again burdened by looted metalwork they decided not to bother returning to Antone to sell it on, and entered the Rapax Courtyard.
They hunted some of the Savant's orbs in the spaceport and met some new types of androids outside again; android beserkers and gunners. They were quickly demolished by two Higardi patrols, Myles and the friends. They picked up the giant silver nugget from their room in He'Li's inn, and Quentin teleported them back to Rapax Rift, annoying Vi.
"I told you that I don't like being here!" she barked at them
"I'm sorry," admitted Quentin. "I just feel some sort of deep bond between us and I don't want to cut it."
The comment induced choking sounds from beside them.
They realised that there were parts of the rift that they hadn't explored, so they found their way over, and there, having killed two undead rapax corpses, they met the last prisoner in a separate cell, called Rafe. Rafe was much more sane than the others that they had freed. He explained that he was marked for sacrifice to the lava lord and that only the staff of ash could remove the mark; until then he could not leave the rift safely. Al-Sedexus holds all prisoner. It was his opinion that her cult had taken over the Rapax, and that from worshipping her they were now ruled by her. He didn't believe, or comprehend, when they told him that the Lava Lord was dead, but when Quentin produced the staff of ash he was overjoyed.
"Now unlock my cage," he asked, eagerly. "These bars are all that stand between me and my freedom."
His cage was controlled by a combination lock of three dials. Thankfully, each dial only had three options. They unlocked it on the 24th attempt.
Rafe was overjoyed, but stayed to teach them about the rift for a few minutes. He explained that the beckoning stone summoned Al-Sedexus' creature, and that only in his presence would the door to her chamber open. He explained that the Templar Rapax had managed to get the Rapax to march on the rest of Dominus, led by Al-Sedexus' desires and against sensible judgement.
He finally, however, grew too fearful of being caught by Rapax patrols or the lava lord himself, and fled, never to be seen again.
Salva's scanner allowed them to ambush 4 samurais and 8 veterans just coming out of one of the roughly-hewn corridors that led to the prisoners' area. Shu Ting placed a perfect blow through the head of the lead samurai, and in the tight corridor Quentin's magical ego whip caused bubbling blood to stream out of a number of muzzles. Margreet cast her quicksand spell, but it failed.
The samurais were too tough to be scared by a clean kill and a bit of magic, and magically webbed Karen and Quentin. 6 of the veterans, on the other hand, retreated towards the other end of the corridor. RFS and Shu Ting did a double-team move on one of the remaining veterans, and the combined effects of the samurais' magic missiles and whirlwinds killed RFS. Karen had quickly broken free of her webbing, and the chums were finishing off the samurais when the veterans returned. Quentin finished the last samurai off, and turned to reboot RFS leaving the others in a slog-fest of crunching blows, out of which there could only be one winner: Karen. Salva's regenerating stone was necessary twice, to heal their wounds from the samurais' magic, and during the fighting, and Quentin aided them with another spell from his expanding magical arsenal, this time leaching away their exhaustion, which was a concern for the energetic Shu Ting and RFS, and for Salva, whose stone sapped a lot of his stamina.
One of the veterans trapped Salva against the wall of the corridor and sliced him up. Moments before he expired Margreet healed him to new, but he fainted with the amazing changes he was undergoing, and the rapax killed him with two more blows. By this time only one other veteran was alive, and the juggernaught of the friends mowed it down, Vi caught Salva's mortal enemy with her mystic spear before anyone had a chance to close with it, and Quentin raised Salva from the dead once more.
They made their way back through the rift, encountering plenty more rapax. At first three veterans on their own provided mere practice at finding soft spots for Shu Ting, but then they ambushed a troop of 7 patrols and three initiates. The group gradually surrounded the friends, but died too quickly for it to be worrying. Further along they met another such patrol, and they were seen before they had managed to completely spring their ambush. Perhaps simply attacking the lead enemy, or perhaps showing unusual acumen, but probably from the acute mental haemorrhaging Quentin caused in them, they focussed their efforts on Shu Ting, but failed to hit the whirling bundle of death except on her swords or armour. The end of the fight consisted of inventing new ways to chop up rapax, their unconscious bodies lying in the corridor where they had fallen, helped by the mental blasting and the toxic cloud Margreet cast over them. Despite their attacks, Shu Ting even found time to aim the siege arbalest she carried in place of a crossbow well enough to rip a throat out of one of the initiates from a distance.
Once again burdened by looted metalwork they decided not to bother returning to Antone to sell it on, and entered the Rapax Courtyard.
The adventure
Karen, Shu Ting, and RFS were about to step through the entrance when Quentin spotted that one of the metal plaques surrounding the doorway was hinged rather than simply bolted into the wall. They set Salva on the job, but the plate opened without incident. However, underneath it was a complicated mechanism with a number of traps set to trigger if someone fiddled with it. Salva fiddled with it, but with the traps first, pushing a few levers and disconnecting some crank rods to see what might happen.
The bubbling sound stopped and they saw that the two lava pools had drained away; they could only assume that the whole antechamber had been a trap to drown people in lava.
They passed through carefully and safely into another hall with a statue of a four-armed demoness facing them from an alcove. Two ramps led up the sides of the tall room to a platform above the alcove, which stretched beyond their view. Salva's scanner showed rapax further ahead, presumably up the ramps, but Quentin decided to have a look at the statue.
AS well as finding some of his special healing powder hidden behind her, he also got a good glance of the careful artistry of the naked statue.
"She is rather fine, isn't she?" admitted Margreet, coming over for a look.
"Oh come on!" exclaimed Karen, "Haven't you enough to ogle?" She spared a glance for Vi, who was quite innocently unaware of anything other than a search for hidden items.
Margreet had a grope of her own of Al-Sedexus' behind, picking up some potions from the other side from Quentin.
They sneaked up one of the ramps, along a wall of the cave that extended along behind the platform, and to two protruding pillars, behind which they hid as the enemies approached, chanting some strange hymn to their demon.
As the sound of footsteps became audible, along with the rhythmic chanting, they could judge without Salva's scanner when the leap out.
They ambushed the procession, led by the high priestess, and Shu Ting did for the matriarch, yet again displaying her profound respect for religious authority. The five priestesses remaining required simple butchery, which the friends were happy to give, Shu Ting bagging another couple, giving her three of the six.
"Those were very neat decapitations." Quentin observed, looking at two heads of the high priestess and one of her initiates. "It takes the phrase 'the head of the church' to a whole new level."
Shu Ting snorted.
The high priestess had been carrying a staff of flame, which Margreet eyed greedily. No-one else laid a claim to it, so she swapped her ebon staff for it, the new weapon being hugely better; a truly powerful artefact.She had also had a small wand, a flamequencher wand, from its effect on the staff, which they kept.
They sorted through some of the metalwork that they had accumulated, finding that some of the gauntlets were mildly magical 'Mantis gloves', which Karen and Vi decided that they could use. They picked up a helm of insight, that aided psionic powers, but Quentin declined to swap it for his brilliant Brilliant Helm. Vi swapped some of her plate mail for slightly better-looking versions, and they packed the rest up carefully for carrying home.
Salva successfully disarmed the anti-magic trap on the first chest, but tripped the curse on the next one seven times. The friends appreciated the aid of the regenerating stone, but the smell of burning, dripped flesh that accumulated on the ground around them became quite pungent, so they were very glad when he finally prised the lid open. The chests held nothing of interest, very frustratingly.
Weighed down by their load, they followed another corridor from the balcony down, past two sentries and to an island in the lava where a staff was locked in a cage of fire.
"That's it!" said Salva
"That's what?" asked Quentin
"They go to all this effort to lock it up, so it must be valuable!"
"Or dangerous." pointed out Shu Ting, but Margreet had the flamequencher wand, and, accompanied by Karen, she used it to suppress the flaming cage. Quentin strode over and grabbed the staff as the ground started shaking.
"What have you done?!" shrieked Vi
"I hope it's not erupting" Salva agreed.
"This is worthless" declared Quentin "It's just ash."
The shaking began to differentiate itself into separate thunderings, like individual impacts, and they were interrupted in their worrying about an eruption to find themselves facing an angry giant of crusted lava, the red of the molten rock glowing softly through the cracks of his body.
"He needs to come to the gym with us." was all Quentin could manage to utter, eyeing up his wobbling pot-belly. At the thought all fear he might have induced dissipated, and they attacked the beastie, who summoned three fire elementals to join him.
Quentin used the potent fiery magic of the place to cast a powerful spell that magically sped them all up, and they easily avoided the ponderous sweeps of his club, or his searching feet, and chopped him up, knocking pieces of half-solid rock out of him a little at a time.
He died slowly, it seemed, to them, but actually quite quickly, and the fire elementals they finished off afterwards.
They found that they were cut off from everywhere else by pools and streams of lava, so they returned to the two portals, where Quentin, who after some examination had worked out how to turn his magic to this teleporting trick, set his homing mark. They took the second one, appearing in front of a sealed stone door with a strange indentation in it, and capped by a magnificent golden statue of a demon, very much like Bela.
Remembering the door to the meditation room in Trynton, they tried a faintly magical artefact they had picked up from their trawl through the holy complexes which called itself, rather ominously, the beckoning stone. Its unengraved side fitted the indentation perfectly, and immediately the cliff face in which the great stone door was set began to shed rubble, driving them back.
From a small distance they could see the golden statue raise its arms, the cracking sound of its magical joints echoing across the rift, and leap down in front of the now open stone door.
El Dorado wasn't a hard fight at all. Gold is much softer than steel, and less painful than drips of lava. Salva did need to use the regenerating stone once, but they'd have killed it anyway. When Bloodlust finally bit some more gold away to reveal where a heart might have been the golden monstrosity creaked and fell, shattering into fragments that scattered into cracks and crevices. They retrieved a few gold nuggets, but much of it had vanished, perhaps into the lava.
They peered into the chamber revealed by the open door, and saw inside a beautiful round room, separated into an inner circle and outer circle by a colonnade of giant pillars, the demonic form of Al-Sedexus, the demon goddess, herself. They had left Demonsbane in Arnika, and she seemed unaware or unconcerned by the light streaming in through the doorway, so they sneaked away, killing 4 rapax soldiers on the way.
As they came to an archway, they realised that this was leading to Rapax Castle, and they decided to unburden themselves before infiltrating such a formidable place. Margreet teleported them back to Arnika, via her homing site at the T'Rang teleporter in Marten's Bluff.
The bubbling sound stopped and they saw that the two lava pools had drained away; they could only assume that the whole antechamber had been a trap to drown people in lava.
They passed through carefully and safely into another hall with a statue of a four-armed demoness facing them from an alcove. Two ramps led up the sides of the tall room to a platform above the alcove, which stretched beyond their view. Salva's scanner showed rapax further ahead, presumably up the ramps, but Quentin decided to have a look at the statue.
AS well as finding some of his special healing powder hidden behind her, he also got a good glance of the careful artistry of the naked statue.
"She is rather fine, isn't she?" admitted Margreet, coming over for a look.
"Oh come on!" exclaimed Karen, "Haven't you enough to ogle?" She spared a glance for Vi, who was quite innocently unaware of anything other than a search for hidden items.
Margreet had a grope of her own of Al-Sedexus' behind, picking up some potions from the other side from Quentin.
They sneaked up one of the ramps, along a wall of the cave that extended along behind the platform, and to two protruding pillars, behind which they hid as the enemies approached, chanting some strange hymn to their demon.
As the sound of footsteps became audible, along with the rhythmic chanting, they could judge without Salva's scanner when the leap out.
They ambushed the procession, led by the high priestess, and Shu Ting did for the matriarch, yet again displaying her profound respect for religious authority. The five priestesses remaining required simple butchery, which the friends were happy to give, Shu Ting bagging another couple, giving her three of the six.
"Those were very neat decapitations." Quentin observed, looking at two heads of the high priestess and one of her initiates. "It takes the phrase 'the head of the church' to a whole new level."
Shu Ting snorted.
The high priestess had been carrying a staff of flame, which Margreet eyed greedily. No-one else laid a claim to it, so she swapped her ebon staff for it, the new weapon being hugely better; a truly powerful artefact.She had also had a small wand, a flamequencher wand, from its effect on the staff, which they kept.
They sorted through some of the metalwork that they had accumulated, finding that some of the gauntlets were mildly magical 'Mantis gloves', which Karen and Vi decided that they could use. They picked up a helm of insight, that aided psionic powers, but Quentin declined to swap it for his brilliant Brilliant Helm. Vi swapped some of her plate mail for slightly better-looking versions, and they packed the rest up carefully for carrying home.
Salva successfully disarmed the anti-magic trap on the first chest, but tripped the curse on the next one seven times. The friends appreciated the aid of the regenerating stone, but the smell of burning, dripped flesh that accumulated on the ground around them became quite pungent, so they were very glad when he finally prised the lid open. The chests held nothing of interest, very frustratingly.
Weighed down by their load, they followed another corridor from the balcony down, past two sentries and to an island in the lava where a staff was locked in a cage of fire.
"That's it!" said Salva
"That's what?" asked Quentin
"They go to all this effort to lock it up, so it must be valuable!"
"Or dangerous." pointed out Shu Ting, but Margreet had the flamequencher wand, and, accompanied by Karen, she used it to suppress the flaming cage. Quentin strode over and grabbed the staff as the ground started shaking.
"What have you done?!" shrieked Vi
"I hope it's not erupting" Salva agreed.
"This is worthless" declared Quentin "It's just ash."
The shaking began to differentiate itself into separate thunderings, like individual impacts, and they were interrupted in their worrying about an eruption to find themselves facing an angry giant of crusted lava, the red of the molten rock glowing softly through the cracks of his body.
"He needs to come to the gym with us." was all Quentin could manage to utter, eyeing up his wobbling pot-belly. At the thought all fear he might have induced dissipated, and they attacked the beastie, who summoned three fire elementals to join him.
Quentin used the potent fiery magic of the place to cast a powerful spell that magically sped them all up, and they easily avoided the ponderous sweeps of his club, or his searching feet, and chopped him up, knocking pieces of half-solid rock out of him a little at a time.
He died slowly, it seemed, to them, but actually quite quickly, and the fire elementals they finished off afterwards.
They found that they were cut off from everywhere else by pools and streams of lava, so they returned to the two portals, where Quentin, who after some examination had worked out how to turn his magic to this teleporting trick, set his homing mark. They took the second one, appearing in front of a sealed stone door with a strange indentation in it, and capped by a magnificent golden statue of a demon, very much like Bela.
Remembering the door to the meditation room in Trynton, they tried a faintly magical artefact they had picked up from their trawl through the holy complexes which called itself, rather ominously, the beckoning stone. Its unengraved side fitted the indentation perfectly, and immediately the cliff face in which the great stone door was set began to shed rubble, driving them back.
From a small distance they could see the golden statue raise its arms, the cracking sound of its magical joints echoing across the rift, and leap down in front of the now open stone door.
El Dorado wasn't a hard fight at all. Gold is much softer than steel, and less painful than drips of lava. Salva did need to use the regenerating stone once, but they'd have killed it anyway. When Bloodlust finally bit some more gold away to reveal where a heart might have been the golden monstrosity creaked and fell, shattering into fragments that scattered into cracks and crevices. They retrieved a few gold nuggets, but much of it had vanished, perhaps into the lava.
They peered into the chamber revealed by the open door, and saw inside a beautiful round room, separated into an inner circle and outer circle by a colonnade of giant pillars, the demonic form of Al-Sedexus, the demon goddess, herself. They had left Demonsbane in Arnika, and she seemed unaware or unconcerned by the light streaming in through the doorway, so they sneaked away, killing 4 rapax soldiers on the way.
As they came to an archway, they realised that this was leading to Rapax Castle, and they decided to unburden themselves before infiltrating such a formidable place. Margreet teleported them back to Arnika, via her homing site at the T'Rang teleporter in Marten's Bluff.
The adventure
The friends returned over the bridges to the stone ledge in front of the initiates' quarters and climbed down a gently sloping section to the rocky floor below. They had a fight with three rapax veterans and two beserkers, but nothing could stand up to Karen, Shu Ting, RFS and Quentin in close combat. They wandered down a little corridor, past a lava pit that led to another corridor, ambushing two initiates and two veterans in a carefully-carved cave of hot baths and steam. While Salva was watching for trouble they had a quick wash, the heat of the lava outside and the fighting having been unpleasant.
When they were done he showed that he had occupied himself carefully, and explained that pushing out a support could bring the ceiling down over the lava pit, allowing them to cross safely. There was some doubt, but Karen proved the point by knocking it through. When the dust settled Karen needed another wash, but the lava pit was indeed bridged by fallen rock.
"See! I said so." Salva continued to press his point, "It is simple; the pit opening had made the support already weak."
"Are you saying I couldn't break a proper support?" Karen interjected
"Yes," Salva began, before realising where this might lead, "No, no. It is not needed." He saved himself, as Karen manically approached another one.
This adjoining corridor twisted and turned, and using Salva's scanner they ambushed a band who were just coming up to a corner. This group of rapax consisted of 9 initiates and a priestess. They killed three immediately and slaughtered the others in rapid progression, advancing along the corridor. The initiates' spells were noticeable, but not worrying. One managed to cast a spell of silence on Salva (which no-one noticed) and Margreet, but she didn't need to cast spells anyway; the rapax died too quickly under their weapons. The priestess was last.
Further up the twisting corridor they found a votive chamber of some sort, with rapax inside. They enticed the creatures out of the chamber by peering unsubtly round the entrance arch, and caught them as they approached. Shu Ting killed the priestess with one blow as they leapt around the corner, followed by RFS, but an initiate managed to catch them in magical webbing. Karen killed two initiates with Bloodlust (and blood-lust), outdoing Shu Ting's impressive start, and the remaining three were no challenge.
At the end of the corridor they came to two door-sized frames, of finely moulded silver, each of which rested against a silver stand. They could have been full-length mirrors, except that in place of the actual mirror there was a shimmering film of magic. Margreet and Quentin recognised the portals, but in case anyone was in doubt, Vi piped up
"Which teleportal should we take? We've no idea whether they'll take us further in or out of this forsaken place!"
Margreet had a long stare at one and Quentin the other, and they decided, after some examination, that one took them to a balcony and another to a stone door, so the whole party stepped onto the balcony, where they were immediately set apon by 2 priestesses. Apart from the surprise, it wasn't a problem for Karen, Shu Ting and RFS, who were first through.The priestesses, for some reason, perhaps foolishly underestimating the little balls of fury, tried to cast their magic on Quentin as he came through. It failed to take hold of the rapidly maturing wizard, and the priestesses were diced to ribbons with barely an attempt to fight.
The door to the balcony was locked, but thankfully the rift key that they had found earlier fitted the lock. Ahead of them was some sort of entrance chamber with two giant pots of lava on each side, enclosed by two small entrances; the one in front of them and the one at the other end.
When they were done he showed that he had occupied himself carefully, and explained that pushing out a support could bring the ceiling down over the lava pit, allowing them to cross safely. There was some doubt, but Karen proved the point by knocking it through. When the dust settled Karen needed another wash, but the lava pit was indeed bridged by fallen rock.
"See! I said so." Salva continued to press his point, "It is simple; the pit opening had made the support already weak."
"Are you saying I couldn't break a proper support?" Karen interjected
"Yes," Salva began, before realising where this might lead, "No, no. It is not needed." He saved himself, as Karen manically approached another one.
This adjoining corridor twisted and turned, and using Salva's scanner they ambushed a band who were just coming up to a corner. This group of rapax consisted of 9 initiates and a priestess. They killed three immediately and slaughtered the others in rapid progression, advancing along the corridor. The initiates' spells were noticeable, but not worrying. One managed to cast a spell of silence on Salva (which no-one noticed) and Margreet, but she didn't need to cast spells anyway; the rapax died too quickly under their weapons. The priestess was last.
Further up the twisting corridor they found a votive chamber of some sort, with rapax inside. They enticed the creatures out of the chamber by peering unsubtly round the entrance arch, and caught them as they approached. Shu Ting killed the priestess with one blow as they leapt around the corner, followed by RFS, but an initiate managed to catch them in magical webbing. Karen killed two initiates with Bloodlust (and blood-lust), outdoing Shu Ting's impressive start, and the remaining three were no challenge.
At the end of the corridor they came to two door-sized frames, of finely moulded silver, each of which rested against a silver stand. They could have been full-length mirrors, except that in place of the actual mirror there was a shimmering film of magic. Margreet and Quentin recognised the portals, but in case anyone was in doubt, Vi piped up
"Which teleportal should we take? We've no idea whether they'll take us further in or out of this forsaken place!"
Margreet had a long stare at one and Quentin the other, and they decided, after some examination, that one took them to a balcony and another to a stone door, so the whole party stepped onto the balcony, where they were immediately set apon by 2 priestesses. Apart from the surprise, it wasn't a problem for Karen, Shu Ting and RFS, who were first through.The priestesses, for some reason, perhaps foolishly underestimating the little balls of fury, tried to cast their magic on Quentin as he came through. It failed to take hold of the rapidly maturing wizard, and the priestesses were diced to ribbons with barely an attempt to fight.
The door to the balcony was locked, but thankfully the rift key that they had found earlier fitted the lock. Ahead of them was some sort of entrance chamber with two giant pots of lava on each side, enclosed by two small entrances; the one in front of them and the one at the other end.
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