Heroica RPG - Quest #105: Eternal Reaper

[Endgame]

As they walk in the snow, Boomingham finds a place near the little Progg. "Punii, I can't tell you exactly what we're going up against. I think I may be the least informed, and you the most, but I'll tell you one thing. Fear isn't going to help you out. See, well, fear has it's place, sure. It keeps you alive. But we're past that point. We're already here in the stomach of the beast, and there are lots of little armies here too like Knox's boys. And I know you're afraid. And there isn't any shame in that, but the point I'm trying to make is you don't have to keep going on about it. You think you'll live, you live." Boomingham shrugs. "The Regret's powerful. Even I can see that by now, and I hardly see anything what with these old eyes of mine. But if you think positive, think you're going to win, you're going to be fine. You'd be surprised how much your mind controls the matter of things, the world around you."

"You're *wheeze* right, it's just... I'm a kid, Boomingham. I'm just a child. Sometimes... I wish I was more ignorant of all *cough* this, you know...? I wish I didn't know that someone like The Regret existed. I wish that I didn't know that someone could be so thoroughly consumed by hatred, and become so evil... I'm just a kid, Boomingham, and it's *wheeze* all so overwhelming..."

QM Note: Had internet problems all day! Big update coming tomorrow.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Endgame

[Endgame]

The party heads North to the Cathedral.

The stone building still stood, but it too was old. The glass had spiderweb like cracks, and the stones had begun to erode and chip away from the wind. Two odd light - one blue, and one red - bob in front of the Cathedral door. They almost seem to recognize the presence of the heroes, and slowly begin to hover into the Cathedral.

The party enters the cathedral, the interior not faring too well...

The pews were old and beginning to rot, the floor covered in cracks and snow. Dust hangs idle in the air, as if frozen in time. A Dais sits in the front of the room: the two lights from earlier seemingly ram into it, signalling the party do to something... it seemed like, whatever entity the tiny orbs of light were, they had no means of communication beyond movement.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Endgame

[The_Customizer]

Erdathcath walks up and inspects the orbs of light seeing what they could possibly be signaling.

[Endgame]

The two glowing specks continually brace themselves against the dais, as if trying to move it.

[Bricksandparts]

Johon is mesmerized by the lights, wondering if they could possibly be of the same origin as the entity that had originally told him vague pieces of his past.

"Are you...?" Johon starts to say, helping the lights push the platform.

[Zepher]

Boomingham ambles over and helps Johon push. "This is a regular old team building exercise. Punii, come give us a hand." Boomingham winks at the little Progg. "Kid or no, I'm expecting you to pull your weight."

[Kintobor]

While the others seem fixated on the two lights, Karie searches about the pews.

[Endgame]

Karie sweeps the Pews, finding nothing. The seats were rotten and waterlogged, and the books stroed in the back of them weathered away by the ages. The ink had faded and the pages ripped.

Meanwhile, Johon and Boomingham begin to move the dais.

"Not sure how much I can *wheeze* do, but... I'll try..."

"I'll help as well."

The combined might of three men (and the mnimal amount of help the twenty pound Punii provided), pushing away the platform and revealing a secret chamber below.

The light dive down into the chamber, illuminating it. Even stadnign above the staircase to it, they could see the entirety of the tiny room.

Two magnifying glasses sit on their own pedestal, the lights orbitting around one of the white magnifying glass.

What will the party do?

"Think we should pick it up?"

Edited August 13, 2014 by Endgame

[joeshmoe554]

"It seems unlikely to be a trap, though Karie could inspect it with her own magnifying glass just to be sure."

[Emjajoas]

Em inspects the other magnifying glass from a safe distance, squinting at it.

[Endgame]

The black magnifying did not some malignant just from a cursory glance. the white one didn't, either, but for some reason the two balls of light were favoring the particular magnifying glass. Both had an odd sheen to them... They could each be used to detect something, but the party wasn't sure what. Only one way to find out...

[Bricksandparts]

Johon Picks up both, pocketing the black one while looking through the white one.

[Zepher]

"Ah, what the Hel, onwards and upwards and all that stuff." Boomingham looks at the little glowing critters. "Hope you're not demons." Boomingham picks up the white magnifying glass and stares through it, glancing around the room.

[The_Customizer]

Erdathcath picks up the white magnifying glass, and studies it. "I wonder what on earth these could be for."

[Bricksandparts]

After looking through it (unless there is some special event ) Johon passes the glass to Boomingham and Erdathcath.

[Kintobor]

"Um, guys, I don't think we can each pocket the magnifying glasses."

Karie said, looking the items over suspiciously.

[Endgame]

In between the party's almost comical struggle for the magnifying glasses, the lens eventually focuses on the two glowing orbs of light, both of them materializing into spectral, humanoid silhouettes. They speak.

"That was an... Interesting display, to say the very least. Hmph. I am Daranza the First, creator of the Proggs."

"Oh, you and your insistence on titles... I am Daranza the Fifty Third, creator of the Spirit Glass and the Soul Glass."

"Uh, Mr. Blue Ghost the First, you made... us? You 8wheeze* made The Regret?"

"...Yes, little one. Yes, I did."

"Fortunately, my work was a little less disastrous than my predecessors. I present to you, the Spirit Glass and the Soul Glass..."

The Spirit Glass: Allows spirits who are struggling to communicate able to speak easier. As its magic is tethered to the Abandoned Village, it is usable only on the Lonely Island."

The Soul Glass: Allows the user to peer into the surface of any soul. Gives the use rtheir current emotional state and surface thoughts. As its magic is tethered to the Abandoned Village, it is usable only on the Lonely Island."

If any of you crazy folks start using the Soul Glasson eachother, the "victims" are going to have to PM me on the matter.

"Both are yours to take. There's quite a crazy story behind those two items, there is-"

"How old that the younguest Daranza seems to be first to fall victim to senility. I hardly think they care for your "war stories" you spent locked in an Ether Lab. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, don't you?"

What will the party do?

[The_Customizer]

Erdathcath collects both of the glasses, turning to the party,

"I'm sure we will have use for these later on, for now, let's not use them."

[Endgame]

"Their use is unlimited, as long as you remain on this island."

"Oh yes, the mightiest of inventions, two shards of enchanted glass..."

"They're working now, aren't they?"

"Did they work back when you needed them, eight hundred years ago?"

"Tsk..."

Edited August 14, 2014 by Endgame

[Emjajoas]

"What is their purpose? What did you make them for?" Em asks, eyeing the black glass. "Why make such a tool?"

[Endgame]

"I was hoping to be able to see whether or not there was a rebellion. My first thought was to make a tool to communicate with the dead, so that I could gather information from Proggs who had died during slave labor... And thus, the Spirit Glass was born."

"Then you made it so it only worked on spirits who wanted to communicate, defeating the purpose entirely. The Proggs didn't exactly like us, you see...."

"Hush. Next, I tried to make a tool that could read their minds while still alive, and perhaps catch someone who knew about the Progg Uprising... So I made the Soul Glass."

"Then it could only get surface thoughts and their current emotional state. Which was suaully something like "I wish these goddamned bastards wouldn't work me so hard", being slaves."

"...You get the idea..." Says Daranza the Fifty Third, dejected.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Endgame

[Kintobor]

Karie looks at the group oddly.

"Is no one here questioning the fact or at all shocked that we're talking to two dead guys?"

Karie shakes her head trying to wrap her head around this before asking a question.

"So are you two the only ones haunting the village, or is there something larger going on here?"

[Endgame]

"We never really haunted this place, per se... That means hanging around here a long period of time."

"To the contrary, we were struggling heavily to even be visible. The Regret holds an iron grip over everything on this island... Almost all "life" here, if you can call it that, serves him. The waters are ruled by his tyrannical Ameobosses, and he has kept the sky here a perputual blizzard for quite some time now.

He even tries to keep the dead out - the ones he doesn't want, anyway. Only through a lot of determination and the use of my successor's blasted "inventions" can we even be here.

As you understand, Heroes, the hour has grown quite dire indeed... The Regret is planning something."

"And although we've both departed from this world long ago, to see even the smallest fraction of it reshaped according to The Regret's visions is something we cannot allow. We've manifested here, our former home, for a short time to impart information."

Edited August 14, 2014 by Endgame

[Emjajoas]

"Dead men speak oft in ill times," Em shrugs. "What information did you come to share? What use are these glasses to us? Are they weapons?"

[Endgame]

"I've outlined their purpose already. They're mere tools. We led you here so that you may communicate with us, but if you find a use for them, then that's all the better."

"As for the information... You know of the Lifespark, do you not?"