122: We Are Legion

Late Afternoon of Biosh 23rd...
Experience:

Summary

• Raina called upon the Living Massacre to cast a blood rain upon the laboratory, catalyst for a party-issued brutality which claimed the majority of their enemies, including most of the inquisitors and Sons. Tesarra, with a good deal of Narra shining through, conjured a sidhe bard, Flynn, and the serpent Neverba inside the field. The former forced the doctor into turning the beams on the high inquisitor, before the latter crushed Von Hadron into jam.
• A single Son of Nor escaped Rogar and fled to the southern halls, where he sounded the alarm. New synaptic warnings echoed down the corridors, imparting every last detail from the survivor's memories- including the party's location. Only through Rogar's titanic strength and Shard's well-placed spear were the exits kept open long enough to facilitate escape and further movements- doubling back through the Stormmaker Labs before headed south. They managed to find a Nors signpost of sorts, and made for the ship's distillery- which was luckily concordant with Tesarra's course toward the ship's vitals.
• After dispatching some inconsequential doctor and his small guard, the party rescued a northern girl being prepped for distillation. Pressing further, the party found two other northern patients, as well as a golden dregoi named Rees, daughter of the gold progenitor wyrm. She, and the drugged bastards of King Matthias, were to be drained of all their useful essence. Another, the gold dragon Alastras, was already in the machine.
• Hastily, the party followed Rees to the cavernous chamber, which housed the fifty-foot-tall distillation machinery, an ugly blend of Nors and Anubian technology fit for equally ugly work. While the power of the Joiners is great, they perhaps overextended even their reach rushing head first into a waiting Sons army, nearly two hundred primed and ready regulars, each of them armed with some manner of crossbow, pistol, or bow. Despite the best efforts of the Archdruid and the Ardent to lift protections (and added troops), the opening fire obliterated the fey-called summons and nearly drove the party into despairing retreat, bloodied, pierced, burned, and blasted. Most could not survive another volley of that magnitude (save the half-dragons). Thankfully, as was the case with the Norsmen of the Hypervolvium, a strong ranged opening was a limited (one time) Sons tactic, and they threw down their arms and prepared to charge with swords, maces, and hammers.
• While the party collectively dispatched a fair number of Sons, the mightiest blow was conjured by Archwarden Rogar. Channeling the Shadow-Over-the-World, he quaked the entire facility, enough to knock every last drone onto his or her back, and the doctors atop their machines besides. Nearly half were knocked unconscious by the shock wave, and the other half shakily stood and collected their weapons, yielding precious time for the Joiners to deliver their counter to the explosion of arrows, bolts, and pellets that greeted them upon entering.

New NPCs

Flynn: A sidhe bard from the Court of Spring, Tesarra unceremoniously summoned him from the Wyld to help end the battle with Von Hadron (a feat performed with the Helm of the Wyld). His lute was broken in the process, and a glimpse of Narra promised him a replacement. He agreed to stay so long as his life wasn't endangered, and, as it turned out, fled just as soon as he was bloodied by the Sons' onslaught. He did promise to sing of the Joiners' great exploits, though. 

Patients 1, 2, 3: Bastard daughters of King Matthias of the North, each holding a minute fraction of divinity from the birth of the twin gods Freyjar and Sigafrid. As such, they are worthy of distillation in the emperor's ongoing efforts to distill the Ambrosia Elixir, the potion which will bestow godhood. Currently left in the safety of the distillery's holding cells.

Rees Celinduin: Golden dregoi favoring more the elven likeness of her father, Fiernas Gloriandel, than the reptilian appearance of her mother, Celinduil the Gold, the progenitor wyrm of all golds and sister to the likes of Reedthagn and Yathnoc. Hers is a beautiful elven form of soft amber flesh marked with scaled designs in more burnished and sparkling golds. She considers herself cousin to Rogar and respects his draconic strength, as well as the unusual makeup of the party.  She fights alongside the Joiners in desperate efforts to see her friend Alastras freed and dismantle the Hendecacharon.

Alastras: A gold dragon of considerable maturity, he was captured alongside Rees during their efforts to dismantle the Hendecacharon. He's currently in the agonizing throws of being distilled, though his might and magic have staved off total annihilation thus far.

The Lieutenant Technicians: Doctors Rech, Halbrech, and Dagris: Brilliant and loyal imperial doctors who specialize in the functions and running of the gulag devices, their chief concern is the distillery, which looks far more advanced than the one at Sodden Hold. Under their power is a veritable legion of Sons of Nor, products of the brainwashing device held elsewhere in the installation, who guard the device with zealous fury.

Returning NPCs: Inquisitors Denna, Zinnia, and Jozanna (dead); High Inquisitor Farima (dead); Doctor Von Hadron (dead)


Plot Developments

• While under the effects of Von Hadron's field, Tesarra's hold on Narra weakened to the point elements of the Blue Angel shined through. However, when the field was destroyed, the machine took firm root again. Those who made their concurrent Insight checks also noticed that Tesarra made a point of telekinetically crushing any chance of recreating that field. Still, the key to freeing Narra could be aboard the ship...
• Tyvis recognized the whole of the Sons pitted against them were products of reprogramming, having at one time been the loudest opposition to the imperial war machine. His own father could, potentially, be one of them, lost in the crowd of brainwashed zealots. He called for mercy, which swayed even the likes of the Archwardens from murderous retaliation into blunting understanding.
• Forces beyond the party wish to see the emperor thwarted and the Anubian devices undermined, including the golden progenitor Celinduil the Gold. Her daughter Rees and the gold dragon Alastras were sent to the gulag in order to dismantle it, though clearly failed. Perhaps new allies could be gained from the meeting.
• Among the emperor's ongoing projects, the hunt for the Ambrosia Elixir (under the project code name DV9) endures, and distillations akin to those at Sodden Hold continue in earnest.

Next Session: Recovered from the damages of the Sons' demoralizing onslaught, the Joiners seek to end the conflict about the mammoth distillery before the next volley can be fired, the doctors can retaliate, and Alastras dies screaming.