[color=red]And now he apologizes! Aak! Don't you know that the only thing worse than a transgression is apologizing for it?
He shakes his head, then turns to Ludo. [color=red]Answer the question. What do you remember? It is of vital importance!
Abaddon has a few screws loose, it happens when you get up past 160 (though he looks only 45).
Mmm. Fairly high on the the things he knows. On a basic spirit control spell he has a penetration of ( Rego + Vim ( 3 ) + Penetration ( Spc ) + Confidence ( 2 ) - Spell Level) ( 20 + 20 ( 3 ) + 4 + 6 - 20 ) 70 +/- aura/aegis + die. Not inconcievable that he could hit 75 on an average/decent roll.
Can I get a second sight or lore or something check on these automatons of Abaddon's? How do they work? Or what exactly are they to the best of Ludo's understanding?
Basically all Ludo can really remember about Abaddon, from our earlier correspondence, is that he has become some sort of spirit though he has no idea what. If it appears feasible/possible... then Ludo's intent, post raving like a madman, was to attempt to take control over said spirit that is controlling/communicating through these fakes here. Possibly a suicide move, but hey... 
Ludo's rage is still in full swing though his expression now also included some bewilderment. He takes a step or two back, looking at the double on either side and sneering. [color=red]"You will not fool me again! You know you stole my memories of this place! Probably much better than I. What would you have me do the?
Before he turns to Ludo, Octavian adds. "It is easier to beg forgiveness than request permission, master Abaddon." While polite, the facetious undertone of his voice makes it seem like he's almost taking a guilty pleasure out of vexing the elder magus.
[color=green]Abaddon’s rules for Apologies
[color=red]
• If you make a transgression if front of the one you offended and they reprimand you about it, you shall not apologize.
• If you make a transgression but you were not observed, you shall not apologize either. If you are later confronted about the transgression, you shall feign ignorance of the incident or misinterpret the rule.
• Ignorance of a rule is no excuse, and if you are exposed for your ignorance, then you shall apologize.
• If you are witnessed in a transgression but you are unaware of it, you shall apologize for that.
• If you have broken a rule and did not know it, you shall apologize unless someone chastises you.
• If you are chastised for a rule you have broken, you shall not apologize unless the one chastising you is standing on your left. If he is standing behind you, you must rebuke, and if he stands on your right you must stay silent.
• If your head is covered, you do not have to apologize except to someone whose head is uncovered.
• If you have red hair, you must apologize whenever you speak the truth.
And it just gets stranger.
Ludovicio,
Though your totals are impressive, they are not sufficient to penetrate the magic resistance Abaddon has about himself and his duplicants. Long ago, I told you guys that the reason I am so generous with what I give you is because I design exceedingly difficult challenges. This is one of them 
Abaddon laughs. [color=red]Hahaha! There is fire in you lad! I admire that. But tell me, if you cannot remember anything, why do you think I am the one who meddled with your mind?
As Ludovico's invocation of dark olympus appears to fall on deaf ears, his power sliding harmlessly off of that of the far elder Abaddon, his now impotent rage stalls in his throat. He stands, red-faced with his upraised hands balled into shaking fists before a sudden and icy calm descends over him. Taking a deep breath his face clears and as he exhales his hands unclench and lower. He gazes on Abaddon's wizard double with a newfound icy glare for a long moment before speaking. [color=red]"It appears you are still the Master, and I but the student, old man. The wheel has yet to turn." he says, clearly not liking his own words but containing himself now. However, now that he is listening, Abaddon's words appear to catch his interest. [color=red]"The memories I have are only of the trials and torments I endured here at your hands, and some vague impressions of my escape. Do you claim I have a wrong impression of events? Who else may have maligned me so, String Puller? I have little confidence this may turn out to be other than another manipulation to send me out following your own will yet again."
[color=red][b]You came to me as an invader, sneaking through the back door of Taglyn. You came in search of mysteries, and now you claim your quest and ordeal are too much for you? After you succeed and your reward is within your grasp?
But now is not the time for complaints and arguments. I kneed to know what you have learned about the enemy, how you got into Taglyn in the first place and how the two of you managed to get out. There is a breech in our security and the traitor has no idea of the powers he has unleashed. He must be stopped at all costs, and in order to do that I need your cooperation. What do you remember?[/b]
[OOC: Unless there is a dramatic 'click' moment with some recovered memories here, Ludo is likely to just stand with his mouth hanging open for a moment, trying to put his broken memories together in the new light of this revelation. 
]
(OOC - Just make something up. Abaddon was hinting earlier that, if your memories fail you or they are unpleasent, simply invent something new and different that better suits your desired reality. Existential Tytalus philosophy 
)
Ludo folds his arms over his chest, his head tilting forward until his chin almost touches the same. [color=red]"I came a different way this time. Not a path I would care to tread again, for the risks were great. The others came through Barcelona. And the only traitor I have seen lately escaped out the same way, after destroying the portal. He had powers of a ken that I could not fathom. Yet nothing truly spectacular. He has threatened my new Sodales, and for their sake and my standing among them, I shall hunt him in the end. And yet, what are speaking of Master? What could worry you so? This petty traitor does not seem significant to your prowess." He speaks with a speculative manner, easy and comfortable it seems with Abaddon now. He has proved the lesser, again, and adapted to that in an instant. A hand comes up to gesture absently as his speculation continues. At the end however his head jerks up, eyes going wide. [color=red]"The Door! Did he open it?"
"If I may interrupt. Metron escaped through the portal that led to Barcelona covenant in Perdu and likely cut a swath through the Jerbiton magi. I had posted two magi and custos in the eventuality he would try to escape, which he did after he fled a confrontation with me, but they proved inadequate to the task."
He corrects. "His powers far exceed that which he held back in my time at Jaferiya. The source either demonic, his time as an outlaw, or his time among you."
Over in the obsidian tower, Vares and Inigo stand before the Iron Door.
[color=green]Romulus: [color=red]There was an, "incident" here recently. We were holding a prisoner named Metron, who managed to escape not too long ago. Many ancient magics of this covenant are bound to the spirit kept within this chamber. In his misguided madness, Metron set the spirit free, and all seemed lost for a moment. But Vanacastium bravely stepped into its place, and holds together the bonds of the magical energies that are the life blood of this covenant.
Remus opens wide the Iron Door, and inside the chamber stands Vanacastium in all his power and glory. His appearance is that of his youthful prime, a fiery falcon sits perched upon his shoulderm his eyes and his aura flare with fire and power. He is missing an eye, and in its place their is a firey ruby.
[color=green]Vanacastium of Flambeau: [color=red]Salve sodales, Brothers of the Torch. I am glad you have arrived, and I wish this could be a pleasent gathering of comaraderie of brothers in arms. But alas, there is iminent danger at hand, and a Prophocey to be fufilled.
The Door. The Iron Door in the dreams. Warning? Prophecy? Memory? Or a Sending? Likely a combination of all, none in full.
He offers a proper bow of respect to Vanacastium, if that is whom he addresses, out of respect for age and seniority, though the claim of Primacy might, under the rules of the Order, be in dispute.
"Elder, what is the Prophecy of which you speak? What is the Spirit which who Bind in place?"
OOC: You may want to move us to a different thread with everything happening with the other group.
Seeing the spectral primus, Inigo slowly but respectfully drops to one knee. He is privately uncertain about what all this might mean, but reverent nonetheless.
[color=red]How came you to be here, brother? What is this prophecy of which you speak?
[color=green]Vanacastium of Flambeau: [color=red]My friends, I know my appearance seems odd and unsettling, more specter than man. But I assure you that I am indeed aware and alive. I stand betwixt Reality and Hypostasis; similar to the way that Criamon holds the gates open for other magi. But in my case I stand here keeping Val-Negra from slipping into the Twilight Void. We are facing a complicated situation.
In Vares' apprehension, Vanacastium may, in truth, be on the verge of the Dialectic. But esoteric discussions are of lesser, immediate import than the warning which Vanacastium seeks to impart. He reiterates, "What is the Prophecy of which you speak? What is the nature of the danger or hazard with which we must deal? What is the being with which you must engage or so ward?"
Ludo,
I made a mistake in my haste, though I am unsure if the outcome would be any different. The real Abaddon would be able to resist whatever you threw at him. The other two are (most likely) duplicants (magically created and controlled duplicates of himself). These false Abaddons would have would have to be covered by the Parma Magica of the real Abaddon, and would not benefit from his Form bonuses. Thus the two false ones would have a lower resistance score. Like I said, might not make a difference. Just putting it out there. And who knows which is which? Which one did you target?
Octavian,
Abaddon finds you to be both frustrating and fascinating. He even says so.
[color=green]Abaddon: [color=red]I find you to be both frustrating and fascinating Octavian. I despise your politeness, yet I do not find you to be sycophantic at all. You demand of yourself to be a man of refinement and respect; according to your terms and expectations, not the insistence of any other. You refuse to desist even as others rebuke you for it. I admire these qualities about you. By the same token, I also admire that you are able to maintain a distant indifference. Yet it frustrates me that it is so difficult to get under your skin. That is the only way you can truly know a man, when all masks and pretenses are dropped, when Nomos is cast aside and all that remains is pure Physis. Ludo, it is easy to inflate his ego or to incite his ire. Always a joy to watch his histrionics.
Vares & Inigo
This is a long story, and in part is what has taken me so long to post as of late (that and work).
[color=green]Vanacastium: [color=red][i]Think of me not as Primus, that is a position I gave up long ago. I am just an elder brother, I have no status over you. Rise up off your knee Inigo Xalbador, for we are equals here. Gather your wits Vares filius Exupereus, for there is much you need to know.
I stand here in the place of the Senex, that Old Man that taught us all what a burden we bear, taught us to seek Justice before Glory, to temper Force with Wisdom, that Loyalty is the greatest of Virtues and Courage is the greatest of Blessings. Long he had slumbered in his Iron Tomb, and the world was safe from his Shadows and their Sons.
Then that villainous viper Metron [/i](phantasmal spit)[color=red][i], in his mad quest for power, he shattered the seal and released the Amalgamation upon the world. The wards had grown weak, for fewer of us were able to conduct the necessary rituals that preserved the locks. Abaddon invented other means of containing the spirit within, harnessing a portion of its power to maintain our magical magnificence. But this is what proved to be our great undoing. When Metron opened the door, releasing upon the world the malignancies and adulterations of ancient days, he also shattered the bindings that held Val-Negra in its mighty place. The resulting magical disaster unleashed a magical vortex that would have drawn Val-Negra into the Twilight Void, had I not stepped out and seized hold of the ambient arcane strings and hold them together.
I say “stepped out†for I was in the Void when this had happened. I had succumbed to Twilight some years earlier, what should have been for me the Final twilight. Alas, I was not so fated to be. My faithful Familiar, Taris the Fire Hawk, kept calling me back, and she brought me to where I was needed when it was time. We have each shed our flesh and now stand before you as living spirits, for my soul is still bound to my ghost. These are powers not my own, and I do not understand fully what has happened to me. All I know is what has happened in the aftermath, the original cause of it all and the destiny that is to be fulfilled.
There were many things locked behind this door, but only the one matters. One split in twain. The Senex seeks to Ignite the Lumina. The Shadow has bonded with the Flame. [/i]
Then Vanacastim suddenly drops prostrate on one knee before Inigo.
[color=red]You had bowed down before me, when it is I who should show due respect to You. Filius of Isabeau, the filia of Resvinth, the filus of myself, Vanacastium (ha! You did not know!); You who were born InIg0, schooled in the mysteries you thought Mithraic, drawn by the call of the Knights of the Senex, not knowing your true heritage was of the Mercurian line of Delendar through Flambeau to Delendos to Julius then to myself, then down to you as I had described. You are only six generations removed from our Founder; You who has renamed yourself Xalbador after that hero of the days of lore. You are the Father of Light. The Prophecy, your apprentice Kesara, she is destined to take on the mantle of the Lumina.
Then he rises again.
[color=red]As you are both schooled in the lore preserved by the Knights of Seneca, you know that the Legend of the Last Stand is in fact the truth of history. I followed the scattered trails of lore from Valencia, back to Andorra, then the Banu Mazal, to Tagus Tower, then finally here to Val-Negra where I finally learned the truth. When Flambeau cast his final spell that ripped the Tagus valley with fire and death, he did not destroy himself as was thought. His Talisman, the Heart of Fire (he points to the gem that replaced his left eye, which is solid and not phantasmal); [color=red][i]it possesses the power that allows a wizard to manipulate vis in ways beyond the understanding of Hermetic magic. The Founder knew the lost secrets of the way Visgothic wizards would craft their talismans.
However, Power comes with a Price. The Fons et Origio, the Source and Origin of Magic, the Ambient Vis of the Twilight Void that binds the Material and Magical Realms. The ultimate unleashing of his fatal fury pushed Flambeau over the edge and into Final Twilight. All that remained of the Founder were his last concerns, Wrath and Compassion. The Shadow of Fire, this Malignancy represents his rage and ruin. Not just during his final battle, but at various points of his life when his anger overcame his better judgment. The Senex, the Old Man, represents the cares and concerns left behind by the scion of the Senecas. The loved ones he left behind and his lineage, his regrets and remorse, his unfulfilled desire for justice.
The Amalgamation, airy spirit or daemon, they knew not what it was. Apromor and Delendos, they returned to Tagus to capture it and cover all evidence of what had taken place. The entombed it beneath this memorial they had created, and pretended as if nothing had happened at all. The filius of Delendos, Elaine, she played her part and created the contradicting stories that have been handed down to this day.
There is more to this secrecy and mystery that I do not as of yet understand. The past is as hazy as the future. I know that destiny is to be fulfilled, but I am unsure as to what destiny that may be. Kesara, the Lumina, her Gift is already opened unto you and to you alone. But what the nature of her gift shall be and what road it will lead her down, that cannot be foretold. Both parts of the Amalgamation, the Malignancy and Adulteration, these will both be drawn to the Lumina once her Gift has awakened, they both seek to be resolved through her and she will be forced to make a choice.
The Senex takes the form of a man made from living fire. It has bound with a misunderstood hero who seeks to atone for the brash actions of his past. They are united in sympathy. The Shadow of Fire has bonded with Metron, the one who has become transformed into the Flaming Shadow. Each is but a pawn in a game to see which shall find resolution and which shall remain ever unfulfilled. [/i]
whew
Ludo & Octavian
Abbadon bids you to follow him as he walks back down the hall way, he and his two duplicants. However, when you come to an intersection of corridors, each f the three Abaddon’s split into different directions. The well dressed one proceeds ahead, the two dressed in armor turn left or right. If you hesitate, they all turn back towards you and say in unison [color=red]Come, follow me.