Zeitgeist S04E06: The Great Debate
Trapped in Tenebra, the Bloodstone Vigil battled the spectre of Oliver Boone, who manifested as a demonic ghost with his victims chained to him. When he was weakened during the fight, he devoured these souls to regain his substance.
The Bloodstone Vigil defeated Boone after a prolonged battle. To release the ghosts that had survived, the Vigil conducted a ritual to summon psychopomps. The spirits appeared in the form of cranes, and escorted the ghosts to the Lanes of the Dead, which lead eventually to one's own afterlife. The Vigil then escaped Tenebra and returned to the real world, where they found Bram had battled Bree and kept her from killing their bodies while they fought their enemy in the Underworld.
However Bram was quite ill and needed rest. The train arrived at the last stop, that of Sid Minos, the capital. The group tried to figure out where Verzublack and Bree had fled to. Eventually, they saw two carriages leaving. One went deeper into the city and the other went to the harbour. They followed the carriage to the harbour. After some delays, they learned that the people in this carriage had arrived early and sailed to the Island of Odiem. This was a cursed island that everyone in town avoided.
The Vigil found a captain drunk enough to sail to Odiem, where they found the ruins of an eladrin library. Footprints led to the top of an old, crumbling tower. They followed them where they found Ejeka Griento standing next to Bree. Ejeka, a canine wildfolk, had been the mild-mannered wife of Damata Griento. Accompanied by their two children, the family had projected a wholesome image throughout the train journey and certainly had slipped under the radar as a possible Obscurati agent.
Ejeka gave the PCs a choice. They could attempt to debate her philosophy or she would unleash the tormented Eladrin spirits on the island. The Vigil played along. While Mickey and Sora debated Ejeka's philosophy, Tal'zahr and Robert worked on communicating with the ancient eladrin spirits to free them from Ejeka's control. Ejeka's key points were:
- the age of the world would turn, creating a unique opportunity to rewrite 'the rules' and bring about a revolution that could change all of society. (When an age 'turned', widespread revolutions and new ideas were more possible than ever before).
- the Obscurati had a plan to make things fair for everyone. Unlike the eladrin (or so Ejeka said) who lorded over the lesser species and kept the secret artefacts of the Precursors for themselves, the Obscurati would bring a world of true equality. Those who studied and were intellectuals who were able to join the rulers could learn of the secrets and artefacts that could shape the world.
- there was a great leader in the Obscurati who had these amazing plans, and everyone was working with him to bring about the enlightened future.
While Sora and Mickey debated Ejeka (often going in circles), Tal'zahr and Robert spoke to the depressed Eladrin spirits and also the library spirit that had been twisted and tormented by the Clergy, the Paladins of Reladon. Originally the spirit wanted to destroy everything, but Tal'zahr and Robert persuaded it that it should instead release everyone to the afterlife. The library spirit said that as it was a construct, did it have a soul? Robert argued that he was a construct and had a soul.
The spirit then agreed. Ejeka lost control over the tormented host. Sora summoned the psychopomps they'd called earlier and a beautiful corridor opened to the afterlife.
Ejeka and Bree were defeated in the chaos and earthquakes. But what was happening with the other Obscurati agents on the mainland?