Introduction

Everyone present againt this week. The Assault on the Keep of the Four Winds turned out to be something of a non-event , well they came, they saw, they got their arses kicked.

Tor 12 Terong Foo'Pil: Elysium

With the demon banging on the door from the lower level of the keep, which it couldn't open due to the presence of a dead body against it, our heros quickly hatch a plan.

Cordelia, still recoving from her psychic killing spree, takes her coffee and retreats out of sight behind the upstand created by the stairs.

Alfred takes up position in the center of the tower ready to cast his silence spell.

Charity takes up position to attack the demon the moment the door is opened, and Allagahn redies himself to pull the body out of the way.

Charity counts, and on three, Allagahn pulls the body aside. The door opens slowly and Charity makes a grab for the big Rodian demon standing behind it. She manages to grab it before it realises what's going on but its quicker than she is and it knocks her back across the roof, stepping through the door and surveying the scene.

Allagahn steps in intending to kill it, but it blocks his blow, taking a minor wound in the process, and send him sailing across the roof to join Charity. It turns to advance on Alfred, who points the Gaus rifle and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. He now notes theri is no status readout and that his armour feels different - its no longer talking to him and all its situation displays are no longer present. As he takes this in a gout of molten magma drops from the sky onto the chargign demon - courtsey of a little sorcery by Cordelia. Alfred casts his silence spell as the demon is engulfed.

Charity and Allagahn having picked themselves up rush down stairs into a guard room. There are three demons present, a small Rodian demon, and two large black demons. Allagahn rushes the two black demons whilst Charity takes on the Rodian. Allagahn finds he has to fight defensively to hold the two demons, and Charity is outclassed by the Rodian. She resorts to a psychic kill to end the fight, but not before taking a painful laceration to her leg.

Her addition to the Allagahn melee is enough to timp the balance and Allagahn kills both demons in quick succession. They are now faced with a shut heavy door which opens away from them. Allagahn tries to cut it open using his sword to create holes where a traditional lock and hinges would be. the door remains firmly in place.

Cordelia has now finished her coffee and joins Alfred in the guard room. Alfred moves to the door and peers through the holes cut by Allagahn, as Charity summons the pattern and scry's through the door.

There are another 6 demons in the room beyond. One is a large Rodian of the type that came to investigate what was happening on the roof, one is the smaller Rodian type, two are the smallerblack demons and the remaining two are the large black demons.

She uses a pattern tendril and pushes her way into the large Rodian's psyche. The strain of all this is now starting to tell, but she manages to gain control. She beckons the two smaller black demons closer. Their psyche's are strong and she almost loses control of the Rodian. With effort she manages to grab one of the little demons and force her way in, killing the Rodian as she leaves.

The second small black demon locks gazes with her but is unable to prevent her jumping again. The small Rodian has now realised what is happening and turns to run though a open door. From her previous scrying visits Charity knows this is the Guard barracks.

Meanwhile Allagahn has worked out what Charity is doing and tries to do likewise, sending his srcying lens down serveral floor in search for guards rushing to raise the alarm in the rest of the fortress. As his vision descends and he gets closer to the Fount of Worlds it becomes more distorted and difficult to see - was that a guard rushing down stairs or not? He returns to the barrack room on the floor below. Two large Rodians appear to be directing things. He sends a probe into the mind of the nearest Rodian and nearly bounces. With grim determination he forces his way home. Having establish control he finds there is not much he can now do. The other Rodian has worked out what has happened and backed off. As Allagahn withdraws his control to find an easier target Alfred's silence spell ends. He catches the words, scrying Amberite before his lens is hit by a psychic disrupt and pattern disrupt rendering him unconscious.

As the small Rodian runs into the guard room Charity now hears him shouting that they are under attack. The large black demons are avoiding eye contact and staying out of reach. In desperation she charges them, and watches as they neatly avoid her attack, wounding the demon body she is in, in the process. She now has access to the two bars baring the door. She removes one before the body is disembowled forcing her to return to her body.

She recovers her senses and notices the collapsed Allagahn. With their combatent strength down they opt to leave. Charity picks up Allagahns body and gives Alfred his sword. Cordelia moves towards the guard room door, sword in hand, as the sound of the bar being removed reaches them. The ferocity of the demon attack causes her to retreat, before she can gain control. The other demons surge round the fight aiming for Charity. Alfred steps in their way.

It is a stupid move, and he is quickly grabbed by one of them whilst the other uses him as a gouging back. Needing to give Charity time and rescue Alfred, Cordelia blinks into the door way killing the demon standing there. Now behind them she kills another before they start to swamp her. Charity has nearly reached the stairs when something streaks past her. To same himeself being ripped limb form limb Alfred has gone primal again. As she starts to ascend Cordelia appears in the doorway behind her at the run.

Charity races onto the roof and draws her trump deck. The ygg trump is on the top and she activates it yelling to Cordelia as she does so. Cordelia kicks the leading demon down the stairs and then races for the trump gate as Charity throws Allagahn's body unceremonoiusly through it. As she dives through Charity follows.

Taking stock of their situation Charity draws Deirdre's trump. She gets an almost instant response - Deirdre had been observing the Keep and registered what was happening and had been expecting a trump call as a result. She pulls them through to the tower where all three choose to spend the night in the Condo.

Whilst Cordelia chooses to sleep as long as possible, Allagahn and Charity set their body clocks to wake them after 6 hours. Charity is awake first and Allagahn a few minutes later. They go outside to find Deirdre in Logrus form and not responsive to their hails.

They discuss things and Allaghan thinks he may be able to use the Pattern to alter a Gaus Rifle to work in any shadow. He goes to wake Cordelia - Charity suggests he be careful.

He takes due note and talks at Cordelia, who pretends she's still asleep. In desperation he reveals what he's going to do, and she warns him to wait until Dierdre is no longer in Logrus form. He asks what she means and she replies "you've been warned".

He chooses not to head the warning and starts to bring up the pattern. Charity comes running into the condo to investigate the sound of breaking glass and furniture, just as Cordelia emerges from her bedroom. She explains what it is likely Allagahn did, picks him up and transfers him back to his room to recover. She then returns to bed. Charity decides she needs a trump of Alfred and begins to sketch one.

Deirdre returns to normal several hours later. Charity,Cordelia, and Isla are on the sofa discussing what to do about Alfred. Isla arrived when Charity returned from the Courts of Chaos having been playing with her trump deck and deciding to call Merlin. In their discussions Merlin thought she may be a useful asset. He also has 500 Chaos troops available if Charity can get them to Elysium. They also discussed the primal Alfred and Merlin says there are ways to get shifters back but the best thing to do is wait. 90% revert to normal in a secure enviroment. This sort of agrees with Cordelia's theory that there is little they can do but wait and hope Alfred reverts from his primal state - if they try and confront him he may just flee.

With Deirdre back in human form they request she transfer them to the courtyard of the keep.

From here they move to the CIC and get an update on the situation with the enemy. The main force have now arrived and just appear to be setting up camp. Charity decide to go and talk to Habukuk about gating thee Chaos troops via the Abyss. He is not very helpful and not best pleased with her for bothering him with trivialities that Fred can deal with.