15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Things are getting significantly more complicated. 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle reconvenes, minus Mud and Xu Sim, who continue to labor in and on their nascent hideout. But they've had word from the Twilights too. It seems apparent that the Fae may be coming to Nexus, en masse, and girded for war. [20:07] 14Dire news indeed. Stranger's method of coping, as usual, is reading. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a number of lines of inquiry people can pursue, and some question of the united front. Pellicia knows that Stranger and Judge are Anathema, for instance - though she wouldn't know Judge if she bumped into him on the street. [20:09] 14That, of course, was an unparalleled success. Pellicia already suspected they were 'Anathema' to begin with -- they merely confirmed her suspicions, while receiving useful information in return. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It's true. On the whole, while things may be getting (or revealing themselves to be) steadily worse, the Chosen themselves are racking up success after success. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> So what's next? [20:09] 14And additionally, Stranger is fairly certain he impressed upon her the importance of keeping the Wyld Hunt from Nexus's gates -- at least one focused on Nexus itself, as opposed to the armies that apparently approach. [20:10] 14For Stranger, what's next is Councilor Kratz. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's frowning to himself and keeping a hand at his chin as he leaves the home of Omphaloskepsis. Hmm... hmmm. He wasn't actually careful enough, there. Did his research but didn't act on it. Lucked out, though. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> "So," 12he says to Blossom. "White and black are magic, right? Which makes gold, what... prayer book?" [20:14] 4Judge needs to track down Moira Malcavet, and find out more about this man he can barely remember. [20:15] 14At the moment, Stranger is splitting his time between the hideout and the teahouse, entertaining visitors in or around either. In his spare time, he's reading about the art of never being there. [20:15] 14Dodging, that is. [20:17] 14Specifically Elisse de Mortac's 'The River and the Riven,' a treatise expounding on the mental state of the warrior that moves and bends, and so erodes. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but his work does occasionally intervene. [20:19] 4Ra squeaks and tries to do the moves along with him. [20:19] 14Ra squeaks and tries to do the moves along with him. [20:20] 7Blossom nods as she shifts the weight of the books in her hands. "Something like that. Prayer book, philosophical text, religious scripture..." 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> If Blossom's skimmed it, she'll know that quite a lot of it is given over to tables of numbers. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And you're lookin' to, what. Start it all up? Temples, priesthoods?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The dimensions of temples, the rates of sacraments. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The logistics of the faith. [20:23] 14While reading, and training, and holding forth a dialogue with the good people of the neighborhood and the teahouse, Stranger will also have been keeping an eye on the outsider population of Nexus -- the naturalized demons and Fair Folk who live among humans and who, Stranger must admit, he feels a bit of vestigial responsibility for as a negotiator between their kind and humanity. [20:23] 14What he's learned has alarmed him: [20:23] 14They're leaving. [20:23] 14And they're not taking their things with them. [20:23] 7Blossom: "Eventually. But first I need to know what I need to do. When are the daily prayers, and what are the words? What sacrifices does he prefer, and when should they be given?" [20:24] 14Part of him is glad of this; fewer Fair Folk and demons on the streets means fewer instances where the City Watch or, Sun save us, Lookshites cut down perfectly peaceable, reasonable folk. [20:24] 7Blossom: "Ask nothing of your followers you would not do yourself." [20:24] 14The other part, of course, wonders what they know that he doesn't. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You get to be high priestess? Or hierophant or archbishop or whatever?" [20:25] 7Blossom: "I don't know what the title is yet." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Do I get one?" [20:26] 14Stranger looks up from his reading as they walk in. "One what?" [20:26] "And do I get one?" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fancy position in the religion Blossom wants to set up." [20:27] 14Stranger blinks. "That's ambitious. ...I approve." [20:28] "Restore. The religion I want to restore. I'm sure the other Chosen of the Sun are acknowledged somehow." [20:29] 14Stranger puts down his reading. "So. Important news:" [20:29] "I've told Pellicia what we are." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah, definitely. RestWHAT?" [20:29] 14He raises a finger. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...what'd she say?" [20:29] "She didn't seem very surprised, or upset." [20:30] "And she has agreed to work with us, and specifically against a Wyld Hunt. Which we all agree would be disastrous at this hour." [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hot damn. How'd you pull that one off?" [20:31] "Uh. I'm not so sure she was agreeing to actually work against a Wyld Hunt. She's definitely not going to call one, but..." 4The Judge shrugs philosophically. [20:31] 14Stranger stands. "Yes, we were mainly confirming what we expected already. Nevertheless, Keldar, if you are going to see her it might be worth the effort to make sure she knows we're all on the same team." [20:31] 14Stranger: "Yes, for clarification's sake: I believe she will resist the calling of a Hunt." [20:31] "If one does get called..." [20:31] "...Well, let's make sure it doesn't come to that." [20:32] 14To Keldar: "The question game." [20:32] 14Stranger: "It's also how I know what happened to Astrologer Kratz." [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't remember the last time I saw a question game that didn't just make banditry go down easier." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's up with her?" [20:33] 14Stranger: "She prophesied too loudly and too much." [20:33] 14He pauses to stroke Ra's head. "And so they have her locked away in asylum." [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What'd she prophsey?" [20:34] 4Judge: "They made a big show of how she foretold doomsdays, so she must be crazy. But now... maybe she was right?" [20:34] 14Stranger: "Something about the Emissary dying. Sounded familiar." [20:36] 14To Blossom and Keldar: "How was your meeting with the outsider?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well, here's what we got. Balor came here with a quartet of, like, lieutenants and girlfriends and stuff. They all betrayed him at the Empress's word - s'what killed him here, years ago." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now it's likely one or all of them are on their way back. The strongest's Cethleann, from straight east. She's ishvara - the kind of faerie that gives gods trouble." [20:37] 14Stranger's pensive lean against the wall of the hideout is, perhaps, undermined by Ra gleefully leaping from shoulder to head to shoulder to head to shoulder... [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "As for the bees... apparently decent raksha shouldn't think too hard about such things, so Omph didn't." [20:38] 4Judge: "'Decent' raksha? What does that mean?" [20:38] 4Judge: "'Decent' raksha? What does that mean?" [20:38] 14Stranger: "I thank you for bearing that news to our doorstep, Keldar, but I hate that it's here." [20:38] 14To Judge: "I suspect that's a question that Xu Sim can shed more light on." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess even they've got taboos. Honestly, though, Omph seemed more than decent. Dude sniffed out me and Blossom straightaway... then says it's cool because he loves Creation and is happy to see our return to it?" [20:40] 14Stranger nods. "He's likely even telling the truth. Both Fair Folk and demons are fair from uniform in their hatred of Creation. As much as they can be the enemy -- and as impossibly alien and horrific they can become when they do so -- they can still be people." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mind you, that's what I'd say if I had two demons at my door." [20:40] 14Not human. But people. [20:41] "Hmm?" 14He looks up. "Oh. We're not demons." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "C'mon, man. It sounds so cool." [20:41] 7Blossom: "Demons are not cool. They are pathetic." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It depends." [20:42] 14Stranger straightens and steps away from the wall. "It's a matter of taxonomy, not style. Demons are a specific thing. We are not them; they are not us." [20:42] 14Xu Sim is notably absent for this proclamation. [20:42] 4Judge: "I don't know much about the Fair Folk, nor demons. I've fought one, but I just fought it like I'd fight a person." [20:44] 3 [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've fought demons. It really depends on the kind you pull. Apes are pretty popular in these parts, and they're basically straightforward - which doesn't stop 'em from being insanely dangerous." 12He pauses. "To a mortal, anyway." [20:44] What's he building in there?" [20:44] 14Stranger feels like...he has a much more intimate martial history with demons and Fair Folk and the creatures of the Wyld. Much more detailed and varied than he can recall; something slips beyond him, back into history, back into the nostalgic startlement he feels sometimes, rounding the corners of this city. [20:45] "Mmmm," 14is all he says aloud. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But yeah, uh - we wanna see this astrologer, right? And, like, get patrols or something posted as far as we can manage, so's we see the up to four faerie armies headed our way coming." [20:45] 4Judge: "I think an ape is the kind I killed. It certainly looked like one, anyway." [20:45] 3The phrase becomes a common question asked in the Floodwater that day. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'Erymanthus', the Blood Ape. Watch out for their deadly rip your fucking head off attack." [20:46] 3The clang of hammers and the grinding of stone rises up from the broken ground where the old hovel once stood, now wrecked and jagged where Mud has collapsed walls and ripped up floors. [20:46] "Weak kneecaps for their size and frame, though." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ain't they j- I said AIN'T THEY JU- how long is that noise going to go on?" [20:51] 14Stranger: "Until the work is done." [20:52] 3Passers-by in intervals notice the shrinking piles of bricks, planks, stones and soil inverse to the structure's growth, its builder ducking in and out for drinks, a joke, a quick snack before girding himself in a flaxen harness holding another load of material and disappearing back into the stifling depths. And then he returns, smelling of sweat and sawdust. At sun's peak when the [20:52] 3wharf's mugginess is at its most intolerable the sounds of sawing and grinding still waft up through the floorboards and over the freshly-cobbled streets. [20:59] 4While Mud and Straw builds, the Judge watches... and thin fingers replace one nail with another mid-hammer blow without being noticed. [21:01] 3Come nightfall the the sunset transforms the structure into a trapezoidal sillhouette of hardened adobe; the builder within appears now to work by lanternlight if the bronze glow moving from window to window is any indication. The walls are thick, to trap in warmth and keep out the unwelcome. The windows are small, for the same. The roof, as is common of the slums of Nexus, is an [21:01] 3uneven mixture of shingles and thatching, though here the patchwork pattern is done in careful, colorful bands of red tiles and golden hay. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> It's cozy. [21:04] 14The man does good work. [21:05] 3The final brick is slotted into the wall between the third and fourth bedroom and quickly entombed behind pressed stucco. Mud and Straw exhales, picks up his tools, and retires downstairs to drink. [21:06] 14As he walks in: "A toast! To the best builder in the Scavenger Lands!" [21:06] 14Stranger is toasting with tea, but it's the thought that counts. [21:06] "Skoal!" 3Mud throws his head back and downs the contents of the bamboo flask. [21:08] "I am pleased that you find it to your liking, Stranger!" 3He pats his belly approvingly. "You will find that the walls of your quarters have a tiny passage carved into them, to allow friends access and routes of egress." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's been out - to eat, to check on his own home and various stashes of weapons and knicknacks, and - unless something made it intractably difficult - to pass on to Pellicia and the city watch in general that multiple invasions might lie in the city's future. All right, maybe she doesn't want to hear the whole story of how he found out, but it can't hurt to post sentries and send [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12a few messages, right? Just be appraised of stuff? C'mon. [21:09] 14Stranger smiles and raises his cup again. "The wise woman of the neighborhood has other matters she's brought to my attention -- things the townsfolk could use your expertise in. When you have a moment, of course." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12When the warrior returns to the Circle's base, licking the remnants of some lethally spicy Southern meal off his fingers, he's taken aback. "Holy shit. I kept thinking I'd taken a wrong turn." [21:10] "The kitchen is regrettably not yet stocked, but it is furnished quite well. There is a chamber for the holding of ice-blocks and, of course, an oven that we will need to fue-oh! Of course! I'll need a few minutes to drink, and then I'd be happy to begin anew." [21:10] 14Stranger: "Hopefully it's not so obvious from the outside. We are, after all, attempting to keep this place moderately secret." [21:10] 7Blossom is used to studying while people work around her. [21:10] "Still...there's no harm in taking pride in a job done well." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thumps a random wall, which to his vague disappointment doesn't so much as rumble rather than collapsing in a spray of brick, dust, and pent-up hilarity. "This is - this is really nice. And it's all you?" [21:11] 3The fat man nods sagely. [21:12] 14Ra, meanwhile, has disappeared into the small tunnel above the common room table, only to emerge up above a sconce somehow to leap down onto Mud's shoulder and playfully nip his ear. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's nuts. Hey, can you do manses?" [21:12] "Ra!" 14Stranger calls out with a frown. "My apologies, he's usually better behaved--" [21:12] 3He roars with laughter, nearly bucking off the minute rodent. "I think he likes it!" [21:12] "I've never tried, Keldar. But now... maybe?" [21:13] "I've never built a home in a day before, either." [21:13] "Nor a bridge, come to think of it." [21:13] 14At that the white-haired man blinks and falls silent. Well, if he allows it...why not? [21:13] "It's very impressive. I've never built anything." [21:14] "Aww, but I'm sure you've noticed the hidden murder-holes." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Aw, man. We gotta get us some - yeah, me neither. Goddamn, hey, I bet we could even use you on, like, the city walls and things. In case of oh yeah." [21:14] "It's perfectly defensible from the inside." [21:14] "The doors are reinforced, and the basement is well-stocked." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen - about the last legal tiff going on before the Emissary bit it was about the public grain stores." [21:15] 14To the group at large: "I've already reached an...arrangement with the locals. But I would advise caution about public works outside of Floodwater. The attention might not be too our liking, even with Pellicia in our corner." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Long story short, the side interested in maintaining 'em lost and they've now been almost completely sold off. If it comes to siege we're fucked." [21:15] 14He grimaces. "Altruism is not given its respectful due in this city." [21:15] "We could start our own!" [21:15] "That reminds me, I do need some flour." [21:15] 14Stranger sighs. "That...does sound like a worthy project, however." [21:16] "We should at least attempt to properly clear it through the city bureaucracy." [21:17] 7She looks up, thoughtfully. "I thought Nexus was legally required by the Council to maintain its grain stores. Did that change?" [21:17] "I suppose... I suppose." 3He contemplates fatly. A moment passes: "Let's go to the roof and drink!" [21:17] "When the weather improves, we can sit and contemplate the machiniations of the celestial spheres, perhaps!" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Blossom: "Riiiight at the end. I've got the series of civilities marked out if you wanna see." [21:18] "Guess we need to find a way to get the city more grain, and fast." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not really right that Keldar's own room in this secret base currently looks more like an accountant's office than a famed warrior's trophy room, but that's just how things work out, sometimes. Keldar soon produces the relevant paperwork if anyone's interested. [21:20] 7Blossom is interested, at least. [21:20] 3Keldar is, of course, always looking for traps, so when he enters his room he isn't shocked to discover a number of hidden slots within the walls- perfect for hiding away weapons, coin, or evidence. An indent in the floor right after the door can be filled with a trap at a later date and a rug laid over it- provided that the mercenary remembers it when he returns after a night of [21:20] 3drinking. Many a paranoid adventurer has met his end that way. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And it didn't actually - no, I ain't telling this right. It didn't change. It's just... no one seems to care, right now. They're not being refilled." [21:21] 14Stranger: "I'll leave the grain issue to you all. I doubt Kratz can help much on that account anyway." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's immediately responsible for restocking the granaries that isn't, then? [21:23] 7Blossom: "Who is being lax?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I got it here somewhere-" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The granaries are Midday Husband Hayle's domain, being that he is the Councilor with responsibility for health infrastructure. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Papers rustle. Keldar says: "There we go. Hayle." [21:25] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven prepares totake his leave at this point. He has a parallel investigation to pursue... [21:25] *14to take [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We should pay this Hayle guy a visit, is my thinking. Eh?" [21:28] "Do you want me to hit him?" [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmmmaybe." [21:29] 3Mud is secreting away a brace of bamboo flasks inside his robes. Liquid swishes back and forth as he stands. "Sounds fun! Let's go!" [21:29] "If you want I can write up a proposal and a feasibility survey while we walk." [21:31] 3He uncorks his inkwell and produces a scroll from one of the wooden shelves set into the adobe, turning to Keldar expectantly. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What for, grain? Walls?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Well. Let's get to it, then. The next day Mud, Keldar, and Stranger walk the streets of Nexus, ready to make trouble for some councilors. People will stop and cheer as the three of them stroll through the streets - heroes be they all. The bees are thicker and more present than ever. Once or twice someone stumbles, dreamlike, almost directly into one of the Solars. Some people talk furtively in the streets of honey. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Which councilor will they treat with first: Kratz's lonely tower, or Hayle's busy music hall? [21:34] 14Stranger's on edge. The whole city's on edge. The bees... [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does his best to swat or snatch bees out of the air, but it's getting to be like counting grains of sand. [21:34] 14To his companions: "I say Kratz first. In case we raise Hayle's ire and he moves to block us seeing her." [21:35] "He wouldn't stop us, but I'd prefer it not be an issue at all." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Good call." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Back in Floodwater, Blossom has an unprecedented amount of peace to engage in study. If not for the chattering of the whales in the water Mud carefully left intact as he build, and the odd sounds coming from Xu Sim's laboratory, it'd be totally silent. Still, though - it's nice. Where has she decided to start? [21:36] 14Unless Mud objects, off we go then to the lonely tower. Ra squeaks and skitters beneath Stranger's robe. [21:37] 3Mud has his scroll unfurled as they walk, writing in his loose chickenscratch with each plodding step. If the diversion bothers him, he doesn't let anyone know. [21:37] "What are the name of all of the councilers, again?" 3He pokes and prods with the occasional question. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Judge has a moment to undertake a bit of work that's been nagging in the back of his mind since before the Emissary's death. Where does he seek Moira Malcavet first, and what face does he wear for the job? [21:38] 4The Judge (today disguised as a young crimson-haired man) is making his way to Moira's office to check up on her, and her husband that he scarcely remembers. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar counts off on his fingers. "Well, there's the Emissary, of course. Or was. Not sure what's up with Surik yet." [21:40] 7First with the gold book. It isn't the most pragmatic choice given the power that sorcery affords, but learning about that fabled lost age the Immaculates preach against in horror - when she and her kind ruled with (she's sure of it) justice and wisdom - feels wonderful. Just the first few pages make her stand up and stalk about the common area with her fists balled beneath her chin [21:40] 7in glee. [21:41] "Emissary, sure. Should I still include him on the list of councilers to name? You know, even though-" [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Past him, there's eight Entities: Brueghel for archives, Ephiselle for spies, Hayle on health, Kratz on... uh... astrology... Gen's an assayer, Pellicia is mercs, Thalevar's boats, and Udelph's, like. Commoners." [21:41] "Out of respect." [21:42] "Of course, of course." 3Scritchascratch goes the quill. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Emissary was more of an enforcer than an administrator or whatever. He'd only put his foot down about what the laws should be if he had no other choice." [21:43] "Right, right. But he died. Should I still list him on the council? Would that be rude?" [21:44] 14Stranger frowns. "Hrm. You should address them as...Dawn Sergeant Pellicia. Midday Husband Hayle. Evening Master Brueghel. Astrologer Kratz. Doctor Udelph. Master Gen, Minister of Ways. Midnight Queen Ephiselle. August Thalever, Harbor-Master." [21:44] "Very good, very good." [21:45] "I would name the Emissary, but list him in absentia." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I actually forget if the Emissary counts as an Entity or not." 12He scratches his head and squints into the distance, racking his brains. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge finds Moira's office quite busy. The surgeon and physician has quite a lot of business - two of her peers being murdered opened up a lot of clientele, it looks like. None of the people Judge must navigate are gravely wounded - their moaning and rambling brings him more to mind of a drunk tank than a hospital. Most of these people are fucked up. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> She herself is darting in and out, taking people, giving them medicine, and sending them on their way as quickly as she can without being rude. [21:46] 14Stranger shakes his head. "The specific political distinction is unnecessary. Listing the Emissary -- reminding the people of his reality, his existence, and his possible return -- that is a worthy result in itself." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> There are nine seats on the Council of Entities - one of which has belonged to the Emissary since the city was 'founded'. [21:46] "And one, I hope, the other Councilors will respect." [21:46] "Right. And the population of Nexus' districts, the average income in currency or equivalent bushels of barley, and the average revenue generated by-" 3he goes on like this for quiet a while, rattling off numbers off the top of his head, pausing, calculating, writing. Mud and Straw wanders off from the others from time to time, asking questions of locals before waddling back to the [21:46] 3others. [21:47] "Are we far from where the Astrologer is?" [21:47] 14The tower should be close, now. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, no, the Emissary's on there. Nine chairs." [21:48] 4Does their manner of being fucked up seem familiar? Pollen familiar? 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom studies. The book begins with a declaration of the faith - Hear, Creation! See the Sun, Invincible, Indivisible, Unconquered! Love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength! [21:48] 7Yeah! Yeah!! 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Dawn Prayer. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> You know, now that Judge thinks of it... it does. But, moreso. [21:50] 14He pauses as they approach. "Actually, Mud. 'August Councilor of the Eclipse Thalever.' Not just August Thalever. Don't shorten it, if you would. Make sure you mention the Eclipse." [21:51] 14He should meet this man, that claims his same birthright. [21:51] 14If only in title. [21:51] 4Is she treating her patients in a common area, or taking them away? [21:51] "Naturally!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> She's treating them one by one. She's not quite overwhelmed enough to triage like that. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a young woman out in front, managing the front door and desk. "Sir? Do you have an appointment?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz's tower is atop quite a steep hill, overlooking the northwestern quarter of the city. There are people in the streets, bees in the air, and guards at the door. They look to be of the same mercenary company Keldar remembers from the Crematory Temple. [21:54] 14To Keldar: "Your play." [21:55] "Oh! And whose mercenaries are these!" [21:55] "No," 4he says quietly, "Is it possible I could see the doctor anyway?" [21:55] "I should add that in- no point in doing an analysis without spekaing of the complications arising from an inadequate supply of grain to the soldiery!" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom keeps reading. She reads a brief meditation on the origins of the Exalted Host - raised by the Most High from the ranks of humanity to to wage war against the tyrant worldmakers, the Primordials. Their might and will and genius - led on all fronts by the Solar Exalted, greatest champions of the greatest of gods - beat the Primordials back, slew some, and forced the remainder into surrender. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Mighty oaths sworn by the Solar Hosts bound the Primordials, warped their flesh, and made of them Hell. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, the Dust Devils. "Ho, there!" 12says Keldar, advancing on the tower along with Stranger and Mud. "We'll just be in and out." [21:59] 14To Keldar, quietly: "Who hired them? Pellicia?" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman, to the Judge: "She's quite busy... why don't you go sit down inside and I'll let her know you're here. Should I give her a name?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dust Devils are dark-skinned men with red-and-gold tattoos, largely. Their faces are covered and their arms are bare. "On whose authority?" asks one of the ones at the door, sizing Keldar up. [22:00] 4"Verin." 4He sits down, trying to look appropriately miserable. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Presumably." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar muttered that to Stranger, and is mostly speaking with the guards. "Dawn Sergeant's. We're looking into threats against the city." [22:01] 14Stranger nods imperceptibly, still smiling congenially at the guards. [22:05] 3Mud is penning the outline of a locust onto his ever-growing missive; a thick, brutal swatch of red is across its neck. Alarming figures are stenciled into the margins. 4FAMINE: NINETY OF ONE HUNDRED PER-CENT. [22:06] 3He glances up from his scroll to the loitering mercenaries: "Hello! Would you gentlemen be willing to assist me in a project regarding food sustainability and accessibility in the city of Nexus?" [22:08] "Good,"3 he begins. "Would you, in the event of an impending Wyld invasion, rate food stocks as a high or low priority in the event of an otherworldly siege?" [22:09] 14To the guard Keldar isn't addressing: "He's doing a survey. It's important." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tosses an absent-minded "Yes," 12Mud's way, because, hell, he's a Nexus mercenary too. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, I mean, high." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Verin" is led to the waiting room and allowed to sit. The chairs are a bit uncomfortable, but the room is decorated nicely. That portrait he remembers, of Moira and her husband, is right in his light of sight as he sits down. [22:11] 4Does it seem unusual in any way? Does anything in the office stand out? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks back at the men flanking the actual door. "We have a problem or what? This is important business." 12There's something about the way that Keldar's brusque disregard is shading, towards the edges, into active attention and building annoyance that'd be troubling to anyone hoping for an easy day on the job. [22:14] "Good, good." 3Scratch, scratch, scratch. "Are you concerned about the marketplace implications of grain shortages? High or low- and then, do you think the events surrounding the recent issue of the River gods on the Grey could destabilize Nexus' food supply?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The other mercenaries don't seem to want to talk to Mud and Straw, and answer his survey questions only with great reluctance. It's easy to get the impression that they don't care about Nexus politics any more than they're paid to. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The ones at the door exchange a look and then shrug in unison, parting to admit the three Solars. [22:15] 14Stranger, to the guards as they pass inside: "Do we need to sign in? Surely you have a registry of those who visit." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a ledger inside. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> As well as another guard. Not a Dust Devil. This one looks local. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar strides on through. He tries to remember, as he does, what Kratz even looks like. Is that even known to the public? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "You son of a bitch." [22:16] 14Stranger nods in gratitude, then moves to examine the ledger. [22:16] 14That expletive aimed at them? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> At Keldar. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> It seems good-natured, though, and almost instantly Stranger notices the green sash around their shoulder. [22:17] 14Surprises abound. Hopefully this means Stranger will get the opportunity to check the Astrologer's visitors from the night of her escape attempt up until now in relative peace. [22:17] 14Ah. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's this fellow? Keldar isn't actually dressed as though on duty, but he favors a green tunic for a reason. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> This, Keldar knows, is Vigo, a mid-level operative in the Ninth Orchard Company routinely contracted out for guard duty. A small, furry animal is napping at his feet. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Vigo! Didn't realize we had a piece of this job. All quiet?" 12Now the Dawn'll even condescend to sign in. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Yeah, yeah. Nice and boring. All's I got to do is make sure the doctors don't sneak anything out of her office, Pellicia says. Past that, it's a plum job." [22:20] 14Stranger waves Keldar off. In the registry, he simply notes three arrows, pointing heavensward. Then he checks the previous visitors. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> A consultation of the ledger will reveal that there have been several visits in the past couple of days, each totaling no more than half an hour or an hour in length. [22:20] 14Were they similarly circumspect with identification? [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She sick?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo shrugs. "She better be, what these Guild doctors must be costing. I haven't had to send anybody up to clean up after her or anything." He nods at Stranger and Mud. [22:21] 14Guild doctors. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guild... doctors." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo nods. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They, uh. They mention what she's sick with?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge leans back and takes the scene in. At first glance, it's a normal - if hectic - doctor's office. People moaning and complaining, etc. The kind of place you'd hate to spend some time. But he digs a little deeper, and sees that not all is as it appears. [22:25] 14Stranger: "Mud, you wouldn't happen to know any medicine, would you?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> One, he's pretty sure that everyone in this room - everyone who's actually sick, at least - has a variation on the same illness. Delirium, rambling, wild and distant eyes. These people are either mad or deeply intoxicated. From their manner of dress - a lot of people Judge would expect to see in an opium den - he'd guess the latter. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> It's like what Xu Sim has been suffering from, but much more acute. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Two, the room is densely packed, and the smell of all the people presses on him. Their sweat, their breath, it's hot and oppressive, and it smells cloyingly sweet. [22:26] 3Mud replaces the ink well into his robes and rolls up his scroll. "I have done a bit in my time on the levee, when an apothecary was unavailable. We had a few outbreaks return from men returning from leave." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Three, there are four people in this building who aren't afflicted. The young woman at the door, Moira, the Judge himself, and the little man walking in right now with a big bag full of vegetables. [22:27] 14Stranger: "Do you feel competent to do an assessment on the health of the Astrologer upstairs?" [22:27] "I can manage that!" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo walks into the middle of the room, sniffs, and peers around from behind his dark glasses. [22:27] "Fantastic." 14He hasn't looked up from the ledger yet. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I could... bind a wound. But, hell, I guess we just bring in X- ...our physician if need be." 12H coughs. [22:28] 14Yes, that was the name Stranger was avoiding. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Some kind of dreaming sickness. A variant on what's messing with all the lowlifes and the party kids in merchant families. You guys've heard about this stuff, right?" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12If Stranger were really as wise and compassionate as he pretended he wouldn't so cruelly flaunt having more than one Guile. [22:29] "I think, Keldar, for the moment -- I think the Astrologer needs privacy. I think, perhaps, no more guild doctors." 14Stranger looks over at Vigo. "If I might impose -- what is their schedule, and when will they visit next?" [22:29] 4Great. Great. Good thing Judge has one of the world's best poker faces, or he'd be freaking out right now. As it is, he just appears to be ill. [22:30] 14He might be able to tell this from the ledger, but then, maybe they're not signing in. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> He gives the Judge a bit more of his attention - ill or not, he's plainly not suffering what the others are, but the Judge's red flags don't go up when Bubo vanishes into the back with the food. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> There's information here about the Oaths the Solar Hosts swore and demanded in the ultimate victory of humanity against inhumanity. There are names, here, of the specific heroes who presided over those oaths, as well as feast days to commemorate them. Kira presided over the Oath of Five Thousand Dragons. Rising Star presided over the Oath of Brass and Chains. Stranger-Visits-Heaven presided over the Silver Pact. Inalam presided over the Oath of the Stars. [22:35] 14... [22:35] 14Something tickles the back of Stranger's neck. [22:35] 14Ra's on his hip. [22:35] 14It's probably nothing. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Tonight, is my guess. They usually come right after sundown." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> A check of the ledgers will confirm. [22:36] 14Stranger: "Keldar, a word in private." [22:37] 14Mud too, of course. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. If there's not much else to ask of Vigo, seems like 'private' could mean 'on the way up to Kratz', even. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The business of the waiting room continues. Though the next time Moira emerges, she has her mouth full as she calls for a patient. Is the Judge going to wait to be called or is he going to make a move? [22:38] 7The Dragon-blooded and Malfeans are obvious, the Silver Pact probably has to do with the 'Silver Anathema', whatever they are. But the Oath of the Stars? [22:38] 14Once they've got some privacy on the way up: "I suspect you're both as concerned about these 'guild doctors' as myself." [22:39] 4The Judge waits his turn. Before he didn't want to arouse suspicion. Now he doesn't dare. [22:39] 14Oh, also: were the guild doctors' visits the only oddity about the ledger? 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia herself signed in the night after Stranger and Judge went to see her. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Past that, it's quiet. [22:40] "What are they doing? Clearly not their job, since the astrologer seems ill as ever!" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hell yeah I am. I dunno what the Guild thinks it wants but it doesn't sound like its representatives here are thinkin' long-term." [22:40] "If she were getting better, she wouldn't be in the tower. I'm pretty sure that's how it works." [22:41] 14He'd be shocked if that weren't the case. "Therefore, you would agree we're all on the same page when I propose we do this: perform our own examination of the Astrologer, ask her questions gently and as best we're able...and end our forbearance the moment the guild physicians step into her bedchambers." [22:41] 4The red-haired youth stands up and waves his hand. "I'm sorry, doctor, I know I don't have an appointment, but..." [22:42] 3Mud grants Stranger a jowly nod. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd work better if we found something to pin on 'em. Otherwise they just shrug a lot." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira regards the man: "What seems to be the problem?" a surprising emotion crosses her face: relief. [22:43] 14Stranger: "I will not accept shrugs." [22:43] "But yes. I presume things will become much clearer once Mud has done his examination." [22:44] "I've had terrible headaches as of late, and no amount of rest seems to cure them." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom isn't sure, though something comes to mind. Omphaloskepsis of the Drifting Disk told them, when speaking of the curious little man, the one she can barely remember, who pressed that prayer strip into her hands. To know him, he said, you must look to love. And to the stars. [22:45] 14With that settled, presumably they will proceed to the top of the tower. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira looks past him at the crowd of delirious people. "Come on back," she says. She's plainly grateful for the chance to treat something besides whatever these people have. On the way past the curtained corridors into the (cooler, fresher) rear of the offices, she asks, "You haven't taken with the Prisoner's Honey, then?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd sure be nice if Kratz was at all lucid. [22:46] 14Stranger doesn't gamble, but if he did, he'd have jade on her lucidity being precisely the disease the guild sought to cure. [22:47] "Prisoner's Honey? What's that? It sounds dreadful." 4Judge would like to speak candidly, but before he knows what Bubo's deal is and where he's gone, he's got to sell it. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The door to Kratz's apartment at the top of the tower is heavy wood and iron. It's unlocked, though, and reveals a densely packed circular chamber, filled with globes, crystals, (crystal globes), metal bobs and hanging mobiles of the sun and moon and stars. Their presence disturbs the air, and the bric-a-brac tingles like wind chimes. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> In her bed at the east of the room, Astrologer Kratz is unconscious. [22:47] 14Stranger: "Mud!" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches the astrological paraphernalia for a moment just in case it responds to the entrance of three Chosen, and then cases the rest of the room. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> She's a young-looking woman with dark hair, dressed in long shimmering bed robes of blue and violet. There's a gem seated on her forehead, long and thin. [22:49] 7Hmm. Perhaps the Solar Host of old tamed the stars, binding them to some service? She's heard of astrologers who make their fortunes telling peasants and barbarian kings the future through stargazing, and some sorcerers who construct elaborate orreries for their own mysterious purposes. [22:49] 7Perhaps Dorma's servant - what was his name? - is some kind of astrologer. [22:52] 14Stranger steps back to let Mud work, joining Keldar in examining the room -- but from a stationary position in its center, peering outwards, not quite between worlds -- not quite looking at ghosts -- but with a piercing contemplation of the mystery of concept, not the mystery of mechanics. [22:54] 3Mud steps up to the bed and gently taps the Astrologer's shoulder. "Beg pardon, miss...?" 3Does she wake, or otherwise stir? 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira Malcavet: "You've seen the bees, surely? Well, they make honey. A lot of it. Very quickly. For a few days they sold it in the markets as food, but, well," she makes a frustrated gesture back at the waiting room. "Now they sell it in the opium dens." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "The delirium... I've never seen anything like it before. People've taken to calling it the honey-maze." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's immediately sure that this room was picked over carefully by people looking for something. He can't tell what, though - nothing is obviously disturbed or out of place. [22:58] "So, what, it's some kind of drug?" 4The man seems confused. "That makes them... like that?" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that's just annoying. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger, though, knows. Something was taken, and it was replaced with something else. He focuses his attention, feels the essence flows in the room, and... there. A crystal set in the glittering steel mobile hanging over Kratz's bed. It's simple quartz. Stranger knows it shouldn't be, and he knows Kratz would know that too, were she awake. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Unfortunately, as Mud carefully deduces, she isn't. She's in a coma. Poisoned. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> A very, very subtle concoction... Xu Sim might be impressed, even. It's robbed her of her waking faculties. She's in a lasting, dreamless sleep. [23:01] 14Stranger walks up to it. Raises the end of his cane. "This. This should not be here." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Yes. Now, come this way." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Eh? Is it cursed or anything?" [23:02] 4The young man follows obediently, while Judge's eyes rake his surroundings for any hints of anything out of place or any hint of Bubo. [23:03] 14Stranger hooks it with the cane and pulls it down from the mobile. "No. It's nothing. It's junk. But it used to be more." [23:03] "Ah," 3Mud scowls as he notes the Astrologer's slow breathing. Her pallid complexion. The prominence of her veins. "I see." [23:04] "She has been poisoned." [23:04] "This is the trash they left in the place of actual artifice." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> As Moira leads the Judge into an examination room, he overhears the sound of a knife rapidly rising and falling on wood, and a man's voice singing. "Just like the tree~ that's standing by the wa~ ter~ side~ We shall not be moved~" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Poisoned? How recently?" [23:05] 14Stranger nods. "One suspects that, given the routine nature of the 'guild doctor' visits to her, this is a poisoning that requires substantial upkeep, lest time itself be the cure. Does that match your assessment?" [23:05] "I'm not sure, but I know the symptoms when I see them! And I actually have seen this before!" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud can tell, if he thinks about it now, that the amount of poison in her system is very carefully maintained. She's getting dosed every day, he'd guess, to keep her at this precise level. Someone wanted her out of commission, but didn't want her dead. [23:05] "Up on the river there is this tiny little conical snail, you see, and one day, we got it in our minds to have buttered snails, you see, like mom used to make-" [23:06] "Let's just say that one thing led to another and half our workmen spent the month piled like cordwood in the back of my wagon on the way to the apothecaries!" [23:07] "I only ate a half-dozen," 3he admits, sheepishly. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So this'd be... is it a one time thing? Do they have to get her over and over?" [23:08] 14Stranger chuckles. "But, less the poison, they recovered?" [23:08] "They recovered, and yes. The dose is probably... daily? For it to be measured." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flash. "Oh, that's it." [23:08] "A spoonful at a time." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm gonna have Vigo sign us out and then we're gonna hang out here with the windows drawn and door shut. I'm fucking those doctors up." [23:10] 14Stranger's smile is oddly wide, with too many teeth. "Then I suppose, Keldar, you should tell your man Vigo that he's to let the guild doctors up when he gets here. And then he's to go home for the night. And no matter what the men outside hear, they're to just watch the road and think about supper." [23:10] "Yess! And I can finish my missive!" [23:10] "After that, though, we need to make sure that this kind woman is rehabilitated. We should acquire Xu Sim." [23:11] 14Stranger nods. "We can't move her now. It might spook the doctors. But once we're done with them, we should relocate her to Floodwater." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> "Take care of it right now." 12Keldar's immediately downstairs, and the look in his eyes as he explains what Vigo should do isn't one that Vigo hasn't seen before. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. Ignis Divine, sanctify me. Lord of Light, save me. God-spark, humble me. Love of the Most High, match your might and wit and will to mine. [23:11] 14He pauses. "She can have my room for a time. I've still got lodgings at the teahouse." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Prayer of the Zenith, the midday prayer. [23:12] "Okay." 3Mud squats to the floor, assumes a martial posture and, reaching into his robes, produces his scroll and inkwell. He immediately sets to work. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge is in an examination room now, cool and quiet. "Now, tell me about these headaches," says Moira. [23:14] 4Can he still hear the knife and the singing? 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He can, though it's muffled when she closes the door. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's tried to get both Vigo and the Dust Devils to draw down or at least stand nice and far away for the night. It'd probably be suspicious to get rid of them entirely, but Vigo at least knows to either be gone or to be curiously deaf once the Guildsmen have gone upstairs. Once the Dawn returns, he picks up the thread of conversation. "Not a bad idea. Long as we make sure there's [23:14] <@Ferrinus> no airflow from the lab to her room, and I assume Mud saw to that already." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "On the way to Heaven~ we shall not be moved~" [23:15] "Fumes from the lab rise into a chute that leads into the main chimney!" [23:15] 14Stranger, in good humor: "I hope so, for my sake." [23:15] 4This is an enormous risk, then. "When the sun touches my brow, it burns fit to bursting," 4he says quietly. [23:15] "I would advise not to have a fire in the parlor at the same time that Xu is in his laboratory doing alchemies, but that's the concession you make for space." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Once everything's set up, Keldar crosses his arms, leans back against the wall nearby the door, and more or less enters a reverie. (Possibly there's enough time between our visit and that of the doctors that we could/should have moved Kratz already...?) 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Really? Do you find yourself working outdoors often?" [23:16] 14Stranger sits down against the wall, leaning his cane against his shoulder, appearing to fall asleep. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> She's prodding his temples with firm touches. "Does this hurt?" [23:16] 14No, we keep Kratz here for now. [23:16] 14Moving her might alert the doctors. [23:16] 14Once they're disposed of, then we secret her away. [23:17] "Often. Not always." 4Guess that was too subtle. When you speak in code all the time, it's hard to tell. Is there anything weird about this room, incidentally? 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Nope. This room is totally unremarkable. It's very well-stocked, though. Someone has seen to it to make sure that Moira is wanting for nothing. [23:19] 4Does she seem odd? [23:20] 14Stranger sits in a pile of discarded clothing, the grey of his robe blending with the soft earthen colors the Astrologist favored when she was healthy; the white of his hair the same as the discarded bedsheets behind it. [23:21] "I heard you were attacked in your office not long ago. It didn't worry you to come back? Your attacker could have been lurking about..." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar worked as a bouncer for a brief stint, and that serves him well here. There's a certain arms-crossed pose in which menace and subtlety synergize rather than compete. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't seem odd at all. Well, she does when the Judge brings that up. "That was months ago. And two other doctors, my colleagues, were killed. I had to come back to work." She's plainly discomfited by the memory of almost being mauled by a blood ape. [23:23] 3Mud and Straw, for his party, stands in the corner. The good news is that, his massive size and portly shape goes a fair way in breaking up his sillhouette. The shapes that might be recognized as man are too distorted or far away from one another to register in the darkened observatory. [23:23] 14And now we wait. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom now sees great schematics, outlined in verse, indicating the appropriate dimensions, structure, and materials for a temple that befits the Unconquered Sun's attention. [23:24] 3Mud guzzles down his flask until the room is nice and swimming. [23:25] 7Good. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Whether or not the Guild wanted me to. Whether or not the Judge would've wanted it. This is what I do." [23:26] "And did either of them? Want that, I mean." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom knows of a building that meets these specifications. One in Nexus. She's seen it on the horizon many a time, and its curvature is burned into her mind, the dome cutting over her sightline like a second sun. [23:28] 7Blossom feels her caste mark ignite, casting its warm glow onto the pages as her Essence rejoices in rediscovering its natural expressions. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The great hall in the heart of Firewander. The only city center. It's a temple to the Unconquered Sun. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> *old city center 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "The Guild wanted me gone. The Judge wanted me in hiding. He saved me, you know. Before I'd ever heard of him. I saw his face." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "To hell with all of them. Hold still." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge can tell that the singing has stopped. [23:32] 4He holds still. "It's brave of you, then, to come back to help all these people even after all of that." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "You sound like my husband, now." [23:34] 4I need to know what your husband sounds like right now, Judge thinks, listening hard for more strains of that song or that knife. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The three Solars wait. They wait and wait. Outside, the sun sets. Eventually they hear the trap of feet up the tower steps. Eventually the door creaks open. Eventually four people walk into the room - three women and a man, they proceed into the heart of the darkness. [23:41] 14Four of them. To poison one woman. Stranger's not even angry. He's not even disappointed. He's just somewhat annoyed. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someone get a lamp," one of the women says. "I don't want to knock into any of this trash." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shifts his weight slightly. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge concentrates. There is no movement. There is no sound. But there is... a presence. They aren't alone in this room. I should tell her my name, he hears himself think. I should admit that I am the Black Judge. [23:48] 4And yet, all that comes out is more pleasantries, "Your husband seems a good man. Bringing you lunch at work." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as they're halfway across the room, Keldar moves - half the Circle moves, more likely than not. The man's knocked roughly aside by a tall dark shape that surges through all four of the 'doctors', sweeping forward to seize the woman leading them by the collar and whirl her around to hold her aloft in the middle of the chamber. There's a long, grey glint that describes a diagonal [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12line running from inches away from the doctor's face down to Keldar's other hand. "You motherfuckers," 12the mercenary growls. "How long did you think this would work? Huh? HUH?" [23:55] 3The door creaks shut and those who look back will find that a roughly bear-sized shape has come to rest before it. "Sorry," 3Mud mutters sheepishly. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes," Moira says, focusing on her examination. "He is. I'm sorry, I can't seem to- follow my finger, will you?" [23:56] "You should give up now," 3Mud mutters gently at the guildspeople. [23:57] 4The Judge seems to be a model patient, but his mind is racing. Who is this guy? How can he do this? 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The intruders quail. "Who the fu-" Keldar's hand is at the leader's neck, dragging her about like an irate watchman. When they get the sense of the three men in the room, one by one they hold their hands up. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's Keldar!" whispers the man to one of the other juniors. [23:58] 14Stranger still hasn't moved yet. [23:58] 3Mud lifts up two of them by the scruffs of their necks. [23:58] 14But he's got his eye on this last one. [23:58] 14So to speak. 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge thinks. The thoughts are still in his own voice, but he knows they aren't his own anymore. It would be such a pity if Moira had to see this. Hasn't she suffered enough? Can't I just sit and talk about this privately? I bet if someone walks in the room right now and recognizes me, and I play along, I can get out of this and have the conversation I plainly want to have without any trouble whatsoever. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> "Damn straight it's Keldar," 12Keldar says. "Now what in hell d'you think you're doing here? On whose orders? Talk fast." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright, alright! We'll talk! We aren't here to fight. We aren't even armed." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're from the Guild." [00:02] 14Stranger rises up from nowhere, it seems, cane in hand, empty eyes considering. "We know what you are." [00:05] 4That would be a pity, Judge thinks for real. But he also is weighing whether to go for it, or to bolt while he's got the chance. [00:05] "You should stay put," 14Stranger says casually to the guild 'doctor' who remains untouched. "Keldar has two hands." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> I have nothing to fear if I leave here. I don't want a fight, and neither does whoever I'm here to talk to. We're on the same side, and even if we weren't, we will be soon. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Talk." [00:09] 14Please do. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "We, we- our handler got us this job. We have to come in here, tell the guards we're doctors - he got us papers - and then feed the councilor some of this stuff. A different one of us has to do it every day, we rotate. There's five of us. We're all supposed to come every day." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know what it is?" [00:14] 3Mud glances from apothecary to apothecary. "There's only four today." [00:14] 14The obvious question is, 'where's the fifth?' [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And where's the other?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. By the will of Ignis Divine, grant me the wisdom to know what I must do, the resolve to see it done, and the vision to guide those who need it. Let us reach from earth to heaven, and let your hands meet us halfway. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Invocation in Twilight, the sunset prayer. [00:16] 14Stranger puts an exaggerated hand on Keldar's armored shoulder. "The woman's terrified, Keldar. You can take your hand from her throat. She'll cooperate just as easily, and just as well. Won't she?" [00:17] 14He'll be careful to still keep both himself and Keldar between the Astrologer and the 'doctors,' though. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, it's just her collar. Cool as holding someone up by the throat is, it makes it real hard to actually interrogate them. Keldar doesn't do it just yet, either way. "Won't she? She's just feet away her own damn victim and one's unaccounted for." [00:19] 4The Judge continues to cooperate with Moira's examinations, all the while trying and failing to feel out his mental assailant. [00:19] 14Into the silence: "Does anyone in this room think one more of you would make the slightest bit of difference under our blades?" 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman Keldar's holding: "It's, it's some kind of sleeping draught. We're supposed to keep her asleep. I don't know where Da Shan is." [00:21] 14To the leader: "Your handler got you this job. Hmm. You do know who she is?" 14He turns slightly, so the unconscious woman's head is visible between the two Solars. "You do know who it is you're drugging." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at her. Does the name Da Shan ring any bells? 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you. Can you describe the pain?" But if I'm reluctant, it makes me wonder - what sign would satisfy me of good faith? What would it take to convince me that there's nothing for me, and whoever I came to talk to, to be afraid of? [00:24] 4He shrugs. "Maybe I've just been up too late with the books." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> It's the name in the ledger, Keldar recalls. One of the five Guild doctors. Da Shan, Liu Wei, Katoko, Murag, and Demido. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira sighs. "Okay. I'm going give you a note, take it down the street to the alchemist for the decoction. It should clear up your headaches." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pay the girl out front on your way." [00:27] "Thank you. I'm sorry to have wasted your time." 4He appears genuinely apologetic. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar drops the woman lightly, lowering but not actually sheathing his sword in the process. The room's so small and cramped enough, even before one factors in Mud standing at the door, that the Dawn wouldn't even have to take a forward step to make the sword immediately relevant again. "You're poisoning her, lady." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "It's better to seek treatment and not need it than need it and not seek it. Don't worry. Try to go to bed a little earlier, yeah?" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman, weakly: "She's just sleeping..." [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The GODS DAMN EMISSARY dies and the Guild decides their next move is to start fuckin' picking of Councilors. Make this good." [00:32] 14Stranger steps in between Keldar and his prisoner, a choreographed routine seeming natural to the desperate. Is there a table nearby he can take her to, in order to sit her down? And where, presumably, Keldar can loom threateningly. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12picking off* 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> There is. The Councilor's desk is totally bare. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> There are seats on both sides. [00:33] 4Judge leaves the office, paying the girl up front, and hopefully doesn't get assaulted in the process. But who is this guy? [00:34] 14Then it's there he leads her, calm hand firm on her shoulder. "I apologize. Keldar is intense." 14He guides her into a seat, then walks around the desk. "He's not wrong. But he is intense. I'm Stranger-Visits-Heaven. What's your name?" [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Whenever the lead doctor turns away from Stranger, she espies Keldar pacing the other side of the room like a caged tiger. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man's beside him when the Judge has gotten about a block away. He feels as if the man has been there the entire time, and only just appeared. These two thoughts don't feel contradictory at all. "You know, if my father'd ever caught me faking sick he'd have had my hide." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Never missed a day of school." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there somewhere we can talk?" [00:35] "Is there some reason we can't talk here, stranger?" 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Refreshing the Judge's memory, Bubo Malcavet is a short man, about five and a half feet tall, with a large bald head and neatly trimmed white facial hair. He's wearing small dark glasses that catch the sunlight. "I suppose that depends on what you intended to talk about. I'll defer to your sense of discretion, here. If you can't keep a low profile, after all, who in the world can?" 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Demido," the woman tells Stranger. "That's my work name." [00:39] 4Judge probably knows at least a dozen spots nearby that could be used to talk that aren't going to either give his friends away nor trap him in an ambush. "This way, then." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo will follow. Where is the Judge taking him? [00:41] 14Stranger nods. "So you take jobs from you handler. Any job? Anything that comes across your desk and pays? I'm not judging. We're past that. I want to make progress, here." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido nods. "Well. I've turned down jobs I couldn't do, before. But this is easy." [00:41] "You're willing to take jobs even with..." 14he nods at the bed. "...these implications." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not PRETTY." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "But, it's not hard." [00:42] 4It's not quite a back alley, but it certainly feels like one. A bunch of closed-for-now businesses form a sort of cul-de-sac no one really goes to, with easy access (for Judge) to the rooftops in case he needs to book it. "We can talk here, so long as you don't decide to shout." [00:43] "Of course it is." 14Stranger gestures around the room. "This? This is hard. This is the attention you get, for crippling a Councilor. I don't actually believe you when you tell me this is just another job, Demido. I think there's something else going on here. Is there something else going on here?" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's eyes scan those very rooftops. "Cozy." Is there a place to sit? 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido looks at the others, caught up in Mud's arms or cowering. None of them meet her gaze. "They... they have my sister," she says quietly. "She's... I can pay her way back home." [00:46] 4There are a few benches that haven't seen much use. [00:46] 14Stranger's voice gets softer, more concerned; but his white eyes get very, very hard. "Who." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Guild," says Demido. "Slavery's not legal in Nexus. But Nexus is small compared to the Guild." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo will sit at one, and start to unpack a little satchel before looking up. "Are you hungry? I haven't had lunch yet and I don't like to eat in front of people." [00:50] 14Stranger: "The Guild isn't a person, Demido. The Guild is a...complication. A sludge. Something cloying and hungry and annoying to walk through. I need you to throw me a branch. I need a name. I need someone I can convince...or someone I can kill." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I only know the name of the man who gives me work." [00:51] "That's a start." [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Better'n nothing." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the others: "Demido, don't-" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud squeezes off his airflow briefly. [00:51] 14Stranger: "Keldar--" [00:51] "Thank you." [00:51] "No thanks. Was there something you wanted to tell me, then? Or did you just want to share your lunch?" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "...his name is Saul." [00:51] 14Stranger nods. "Where do you meet him, when the work is done?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "It was a bit rude of me, wasn't it, to sneak into your wife's place of business under false pretenses to spy on you. I apologize. I suppose I owe you an explanation, yeah?" 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "A tea shop. Princess Crimson." [00:54] 14That's not his tea shop, is it? 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> no 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> No. [00:54] 14Phew. [00:55] 14That'd be embarrassing. "What are the terms of your agreement. What will cause him to kill your sister?" [00:55] "I guess you do." 4The Judge crosses his arms. "A bit more respect for the sanctity of marriage wouldn't be uncalled for." 4At this point, it's hard to tell if he's being dedicated to his cover or an asshole, even for him. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "He won't need to kill her. I'll never hear from her again. He brings me letters." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I keep working. That's the deal." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I keep working and he keeps reminding me she's not in danger." [00:58] 14Stranger nods again. Steeples his fingers. "And the rest of you?" [00:58] "Surely someone here is honest enough to admit they're just poisoning this poor woman because the pay spends." [00:59] "Surely I'm not expected to believe there's an entire economy of kidnapped relations in Guild...workhouses." [01:03] 14'Workhouses' is the polite, obfuscatory term for what this woman's sister is likely going through. [01:03] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is looking forward to meeting Saul. 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The rest of them murmur. It seems like only the leader is subject to any real leverage from the Guild, rather than just being a hired hand. [01:04] 14Stranger: "Your thoughts, Keldar?" [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Why five of you? Why alternate?" [01:05] 14He nods. "A worthy question. Is the fifth watching the tower? Is he tasked to report back this Saul if you don't leave on schedule?" 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's... important. For some reason. Something about the crystals." [01:05] *back to 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, he just didn't show. I have to report him not showing to Saul when we leave." [01:05] 14Eyebrows lift. "You're meeting Saul after this?" [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar. "Which ones? In fact, lemme see the poison you were gonna use." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I'm not saying I'm going to. I'm just saying I have to." [01:08] 14Stranger: "And what if we wanted to meet Saul instead." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "He's got guards. Half a dozen, all hidden throughout the teahouse." [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Heh." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "And a runner," one of the others blurts out. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar gets the vials from one of the doctors' jackets. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> And a sort of... it looks like the top of a perfume bottle. [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Any crystals in it? If not: "So what's this about crystals?" [01:14] 14Stranger looks at the 'doctor' who just spoke up. "Does the runner stand anywhere in particular?" 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> No, it's totally smooth opaque blue solution. Demido: "Something about being able to see us if we didn't rotate in fives. I don't know. One of the actual doctors took the important crystals out weeks ago. But they're still paranoid." [01:16] 14Stranger: "Did Saul arrange for the actual doctors, too?" 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I don't think so. He didn't like them. They didn't like him." [01:17] 14Stranger: "Is there anyone else with the Guild you can recollect being involved in this high crime?" [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Makes sense. They'd definitely have some kind of magic security here." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "The real doctors don't work for the Guild! The Guild can't get any doctors to work for them anymore. They just, they work for whoever regular doctors work for." [01:18] 14That...doesn't have the best of implications. [01:19] 14But at least it names another Councilor. [01:19] 14Stranger: "One final question." [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wonder how many people they've got working on that image problem." [01:19] "What is your sister's name?" 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "...Zutu." [01:21] 14Stranger nods, then stands. "So here's how this is going to work..." [01:27] 14They eventually get Kratz bundled off to the hideout, Demido and her cohorts bundled off to a dark corner of the city, and a clock starts ticking: they have to find Saul before Saul realizes what's happened. But that's fine. They have time. And when they find Saul? They'll have all the time in the world. 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Tea parties