Concerning the Nightmare Lord (Conversation between the Temporal Empire and Layne Yr only)

This thread is for the discussion down in the Tomb as it falls between dimensions, between the Temporal Empire and Layne Yr). All Trilat players get updates on it and know what is happening but only Temporal Empire and Layne Yr can be part of this discussion and no other factions have access to the information listed here.

CaptainAxis wrote:Admiral Layne Yr

Something has been worrying me for some time now. The Nightmare Lords Tomb, obviously the goal is to open it. My question to you is: why? Namely, what if it does contain a Nightmare Lord? Is it to study this creature or is it to free it in hopes to align with it. If it is the later I must strongly advise against it. While I understand that as members of Kasanth we utilize nightmares, however, a Nightmare Lord can easily turn our servants against us just by breathing. They were entirely untrustworthy when they were around and are pretty much planar knights like the Quall or the Falosini. These things won’t want to aid anyone and won’t want to be ruled and I fear we may be trading one threat like the Quall for a new one. It was believed they were servants of the Ancient Evils as well; do we really want more contact with them? If trying to find a way to balance the Quall, and are successful or defeated them out right, then we will have a problem with the Nightmare Lords the same as we do the Quall now.

If it is to study these creatures, I must advise that extreme care and caution be taken with it. These are again Planar Knights.

Please understand, I mean no disrespect. I only wish to understand, if it is to gain an ally, why the Nightmare Lords? I remain your trusted subordinate in whatever your answer is.

Layne Yr played the communication for the Da'uhnb Merc guarding the Nightmare Lord Sarcophagus. She wore thigh high black nightmare leather boots, trimmed in purple silk. She leaned on a spear of ancient Khaz'gha Wood, ripped from the hand of the Dra'koon who had tried to kill her a few months before. She twirled it and drove the spear tip first in the ground in front of her.

"I know the old ways Da'uhnb, and while I do come for the Nightmare Lord Artifacts, I also come to speak with your kind about the Nightmare Lords. My Captain warns me of the danger of opening its sarcophagus, but if that is true then why hasn't the Nightmare Lord escaped already.
Because I theorize the Nightmare Lord is like a Vampyr and needs fear to draw its energy to feed. I have no fear. I am fearless. You can thank my mentor Lurlock for that."

"So the question you must ask yourself is why have I not brought in servant after servant to sacrifice to its hunger? To sate a Nightmare Lord once took the fearful dreams of the Ancient Evils. And when the Speaking Races drove the Nightmare Lord's food source from this dimension, they then got angry when the Nightmare Lords used their ancestral feeding grounds. Perhaps the fear of a dying Vampire? His pain and stolen life force would surely raise the Nightmare Lord."
Layne Yr motioned across the tomb. Behind her the Technobroken were loading bag after bag with artifacts and dragging them out of the Tomb. Layne Yr pointed at the Vampire Captain overseeing the looting.
"Captain Martinez come here, its time for you to serve the Kasanthian Federation," said Layne Yr reverently.
As the Vampire walked closer, Layne Yr flipped him onto the ground, drawing the Khaz'gha Wood spear and placing it on Captain's chestplate inches from the Vampire's heart. Inches from really releasing the Nightmare Lord.
"Its a feast," taunted Layne Yr, "Now you know how far I'm willing to go, I want my questions answered, and only you can tell me the answers I need!"

Layne Yr flipped her hair and said, "Question 1: Why is it you care if the Nightmare Lord is released?"

"Question 2: Why is it you don't just teleport into the Board of Directors of the I.R. and kill them all?"

"Question 3: Why is it that the Angels of Desolation are nowhere to be found?"

Answer those three questions honestly and we can negotiate.

AdmiralLayneYr wrote:

Layne Yr flipped her hair and said, "Question 1: Why is it you care if the Nightmare Lord is released?"

"Question 2: Why is it you don't just teleport into the Board of Directors of the I.R. and kill them all?"

"Question 3: Why is it that the Angels of Desolation are nowhere to be found?"

Answer those three questions honestly and we can negotiate.

The Da'uhnb Merc was not impressed. Bravado doesn't make a dent. He fixes his fingers in the belt of his oversized blue jeans, purposely on his gunbelt, but in the center of the big brass buckle of a lucky horseshoe equidistant from each gun [not in draw pose].
He held a smoking cigar between his teeth as he spoke.

"Now you know that I know how this all turns out. And I know you know that I know how this all turns out so whats the point of fighting you. Go ahead, pierce that vampire. Spread his stolen Energy on the floor. I want to see it happen. It would be beyond anything you have ever seen. But since your questions are so easy I'll answer you.

I'll go in reverse order, because the Angels of Desolation are hiding, duh. If you were asking me where they are hiding, you tell me? I really don't know.

The second question I actually had to ask the Da'uhnb Queen And she said 'Even the Iron Republic Board of Directors as greedy and mercantile as it is serves its purpose in this timeline. It is only due to the Board of Director's focus on the bottom line that Refuge survived the moment in 2217AR/5217IR during the Border Wars when the CEN launched orbital weapons breaking the Jarob Treaty of Year 5. If the Board of Directors had been a hunta, a bunch of warlords, or even a smart General they would have authorized full force and glassed the surface of the planet using a full fleet of 10 I.R. Starcruisers. It would have taken them less than a day for the I.R. to destroy the Earther Colonies of Refuge, another day to wipe out the Northern Kingdoms and a few more to cleanse the Olgog Tribes and the Lost Colonies. No year of war where the Ancient Evils revealed themselves to the Ascended, no redemption of Mar'un'ga, no fall of I'tash, and no end to General Tharr's Time War.
Instead every ship sent, every railgun fired, every missile exploded had an associated cost in credits, which by the Board of Directors perspective had to be minimized. Why use a two trillion credit bomb, when you could use a single billion credit starship and thousands of disposable clones? They are not the Generals of the Iron Republic, and the Sector Generals are subordinate to them. The Sector Generals are always prevented from using extreme prejudice, by the Board of Directors'. And I agree with my queen they serve their purpose."
He spat the cigar nub on the ground.
"The last question I can answer you all on my own. If a Nightmare Lord is able to come back from the dead on a planet in our reality it will be drawn through to the plane of Awareness many miles above the Spaceship graveyard. Within days all the plants will die without sunlight. Nightmares will soon overwhelm the populace. All who die will rise as Undead. And the Nightmare Lord will rule it, as a, er, Nightmare Lord."

The Da'uhnb merc stretched his back. There was a slight crack, as he did the same to his neck, and then he reached up and drew the Katana from its sheath at his back. Compared to the blue reptiliod alien, the katana was like a short sword. His other hand hovered over one of the revolvers. It was a nice revolver, and shined of Zela metal, but the handle and holster were wrapped with thick Nightmare hide. The bullets were equally Zela metal, the true death dealer metal.

"Are we going to negotiate? Or I am going to show you my best Yojimbo impression."

Layne Yr smiled and leaned in ready to plunge the spear into the vampire's chest, then leaned back, and smiled.

"Efalin and Ura take this vampire out of my sight. Take him to my personal prison. I have uses for cowards like him.
As for you Da'uhnb. We can continue negotiating.

We need a truce between my forces and yours. My Demons want to quit working for any of the Ancient Evils. They want to be freelancers. They need to know how. They hoped a Nightmare Lord could figure it out for them. New hosts and all.
But you...you were once created by Demons right? Your kind should know how to become independent of the ancient evils more than anyone else."

Layne Yr motioned with her spear, "What do you say?"
"Get me the out for my citizens and your enemies lose a huge chunk of their followers"

The Da'uhnb Merc smiled and pulled out a flask from his hip. He took a slug, and offered a draught to the Kasanthian Admiral.

"There is a way, but it is hard and will destroy most of your citizens. They must develop the hunger as our Queen did during the war between the four Primordial Ancient Evils and the Warmonger. Only then will they be given a form of mortality that is free from the will of the Ancient Evils."

"And before you ask, no it won't turn your demons into Da'uhnb. We Da'uhnb are the children of the Da'uhnb Queen.
But your demons will gain many powers from feeding off their own kind. But that hunger may one day consume them, and even greater evils might be released upon reality. I cannot say how it will affect each different type of demon who serves underneath your pennent. I know with Da'uhnb the evil in their belly will congeal and bond in strange ways as the contained demons inside make deals and unions with each other. When a Da'uhnb dies those demons are released and must be captured again. Often possessing those nearby the dead Da'uhnb. So keep your demons alive if they start feeding. You don't want to see what will jump out of their guts when they die."

"Teach me this technique for my citizens and I will become the guardian of this tomb, and none shall ever get access to it," said Layne Yr.
She took the offered flask and took a shot from it. If the Da'uhnb, time travelers wanted to poison her, they wouldn't need to set up a situation like this to do it.
"Agree to this deal and I will guarantee to do all in my power to use our prodigious TRILAT strength to keep this tomb safe for all eternity."

The Da'uhnb Merc tipped back his reptiloid head and tapped a small communicator wedged in his ear.
"Your terms are agreeable to my boss."

The Merc began the long discussion on how to train up her citizens.