>>5761580You know this much from consulting with the Heretic though, with his infirmity, you cannot bring him. He would be a liability in battle, a laggard in travel as he was on the way here, and now that you plan to place Irinnile within your soon-to-hatch Serpent Scion, the ritual cannot be performed then and there anyway. Better that he wait here, in safety.
Likewise, there were other valuable candidates you were forced to leave: the Junior Novice because of his bizarre physiology, so difficult to disguise even with an amulet; the Bastard and Throat-singer because of their vital roles in governance of Bloodrise’s population; the Thief because your beloved One insisted upon having a spymaster at her beck-and-call to listen in on rivals and potential usurpers.
Those who you HAVE chosen are presented with their badges of honour: the Amulets of Disguise, crafted specially for them. As with all such items, they required the lifeblood of humanoid sacrifices to craft: a dwarven slave for Agno, and the captive half-elf adventurer who had been languishing in your mines and dungeons to outfit the remainder. In spite of this, the Duelist turns up her nose at her own, prideful of her dark and voluptuous form as ever.
“Hide THIS?” she sneers. “Beneath the skin of one of the TRAITORS? Never!”
You glower at her until she agrees to take the amulet, though she grumbles and moans, and refuses to use its magicks then and there. You let the matter pass, though you make it clear that you expect her to use it to its full potential if required, and she does not contradict the order.
“We leave in a week’s time, upon the hatching of my youngest child,” you state. “You will all be ready to depart at a moment’s notice. Until then, the occultist will familiarize the rest of you with what it means to battle a Greater Demon of Lust.”
There is one more entity whom you plan to bring, of course. With the rest of your away-team assembled, you go next to it. Your recruitment mission take you to the top of one of Blodorise’s sharper, higher peaks, where clouds seem to gravitate as if summoned, and where thunderstorms are particularly frequent.
