15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It's notable enough for Astrologer Kratz to have so many visitors in one day and night. More notable still is when the first set drags the second out from the high chamber and into the Nexus night. Some questions pose themselves to Keldar, Stranger, and Mud as they make their way elsewhere: what do they tell Vigo? What priority do they place on getting the could-be assassins into honorable custody? And how strenuously do they work to avoid being seen? [20:34] 14Stranger's most important priority, in fact, is getting the 'doctors' into Pellicia's custody -- her personal custody, if necessary. [20:34] 14How difficult that is will inform how much he cares about being seen. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Xu Sim works, and he finds it increasingly difficult to concentrate. His laboratory blurs at the peripheries of his vision. He finds himself losing seconds, minutes, his mind jumping from one notable stimulus to the next, with all interstitial experience evaporating. There is, now, the gentlest buzzing at the edges of his hearing. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's is making sure Saul has no advance notice of the storm brewing in his immediate future. Vigo's told that "we've" been getting screwed and if he's smart he'll act exactly as he would if the night were proceeding apace; then Keldar leaves out a different door than Stranger and Mud did, watching the alleyways and rooftops for whatever eye Saul might've set to ensure things are [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12going normally. [20:37] 3Mud waddles out the door, a guild "doctor" grasped in each hand like a kitten by the scruff of their necks. He pauses to think a moment. "Can I let them go now?" [20:38] 14Stranger: "Certainly." 14To them: "As long as they understand that should they run, you'll be picking them right back up again." [20:38] 5In a dreamlike state, Xu carefully considers his options, blacking out for moments here and there as he contemplates what, exactly, he is experiencing. He could try to go deeper, perhaps, and win victory within the spirit. Perhaps he could reverse the course of events with a proper tincture of coca leaves and reinvigorate his brain to escape the incessant buzz. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It's early enough in the evening that the Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant is the most likely place to find Pellicia, as well as those of Pellicia's mercenary guard that she most trusts. But it is a long way from the Astrologer's Tower, such that a route that gets them there apace is certain to be... observed. [20:40] 3Mud carefully sets them down and dusts off his grubby hands before reaching low to hike up his belt beneath his robes. "Ooof." [20:40] 14This would be easier if the Judge were on hand. But getting him would just as surely blow their cover. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's not a terrible discount Judge. He's been operating in Nexus long enough to get a feel for skullduggery and, at the moment, he's clad in simple leathers rather than articulated plate. He slips out a side window as though he's spent a good amount of time watching someone to whom it's second nature. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar crosses Nexus with an assassin's eye. Lookouts, couriers, spies - the Guild wears many faces, and most of them know his own. So it's no doubt gratifying to catch one clean and totally unawares, a young man swaddled in travel clothes like a leper's bandages, dark eyes scanning the streets from a furtive place. What does he do? [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, first Keldar satisfies himself that the chain ends there - it's sometimes good practice to set lookouts for your lookouts and lookouts for those, but after a certain point it just ceases to pay. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Once he's done so, Keldar climbs and maneuvers and makes jumps muffled by street arguments until, finally, a brawny arm comes reaching out of the darkness behind Saul's watcher, seizes him roughly by the neck, and yanks him out of view. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> "Greets," 12hisses the mercenary, pinning his latest victim against a wall. "Tell me something interesting." [20:55] 3Mud plods the streets a short distance behind Stranger, carefully herding the four captive guildsmen. From time to time he will unroll his scroll to check a figure or scribble a note in the margin. "It's almost done, Stranger!" [20:55] "As soon as we can meet what's-his-name I can deliver the proposal!" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> I vow to remember that, as Sol Invictus hides his face from the world, he does not turn his back on it. I vow to honor his subtlest and most watchful self. I vow to honor the blessed rage for order that lives in the Sun's heart and mine, even in the deepest shadows. [20:56] "Excellent!" 14Stranger has been paying more attention to their surroundings than whatever it is Mud is up to, and doesn't quite recall what the proposal is for, but he's sure it's a good cause. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom has learned the Creed of Midnight. [20:56] 5Xu thinks about it. He thinks about it all day. He naps, fitfully, restlessly. [20:59] 5His mangy dog gnaws, worried, on a bone scrounged from the remains of a rattlewhale. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Stranger and Mud receive no warnings whatsoever as they reach Pellicia's headquarters, but an extremely smug-looking Keldar with somewhat bloodied knuckles has gotten there first and assures them that this Saul thing's wellll in hand. [21:06] 14So, Keldar, looking as he usually does. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar meets Mud, Stranger, and their prisoners through Nexus until they reach, about two hours after sundown, the Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant lit from within. The air is so thick with bees they might be mistaken for particularly fat gnats. [21:07] "This state of affairs will not hold much longer," 14Stranger mutters. "Damnable bees." [21:08] "How long do you think it can last?" [21:08] "I mean, the city needs to be warned..!" 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim hear the song in his sleep now, backed by thousands upon thousands of ringing bells. It asks him questions his mind cannot answer, questions his heart yearns to resolve. Do you recall how we came to that place? And sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. They began at the rivers when they set the fires. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's insane. I'd start to wonder if there wasn't some beekeepers' convocation trying to push the Council around if it weren't for everything else." [21:09] "Days ago, I would've said weeks. Now, I'll say days. Later tonight, we may be reduced to hours." 14To whoever is on guard: "We must speak with the Dawn Sergeant." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard was already stepping aside as Stranger got close enough for him to be recognized. [21:10] 14Well then. "Inside, the four of you." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> They go where they're told. [21:10] "This is really bad, Stranger!" [21:10] “I don’t recall…” 5mutters the miserable Alchemist, over and over again. “Rivers… fires… those foundries… damnable bees…” [21:10] "Oh, gods, I need to warn my men at the levee!" [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head grimly. "Your men are already- aww, don't look at me like that, I love that line." [21:12] 14Stranger nods. Once they're inside, to whoever is on duty and in command: "These four need to be taken into custody immediately, and guarded only by trustworthy men of the highest character and talent. They are also to be well-treated." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds himself face to face with a young woman in what his studies have told him are a corporal's stripes. For just an instant, the way she tilts her head to regard him reminds him of the Amabassador. To the prisoners directly, she says, "Follow me." To the half-circle, she says, "She's in her office." [21:15] 14... [21:15] "Thank you, Corporal." 14To the rest of the group. "Shall we?" [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't pay her a second thought, of course. He nods absent-mindedly and heads in, grinning despite himself to be the one to have something Pellicia needs for once. [21:17] 14Once this business is attended to, he's going on a vacation north. Or east. Or wherever damned Direction she is. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The song gives way, in Xu Sim's mind. The many many voices raised in song harmonize, converging in rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume until they are indistinguishable from another. The is only one voice now, a proud contralto. A woman's voice. A voice wrought in thorns and iron. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The three of them are a tight squeeze in Pellicia's office. [21:19] 3Mud, his back to the wall and pressing into the sides of the office, looks as if he's about to burst into tears. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> She is given to stare incredulously at Mud, and moreso at Keldar. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Then she looks very carefully at Stranger. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't give it voice but the question on her mind is clear. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Them too? [21:20] <@Ferrinus> "A FUCKING councilor!" 12Keldar starts in. "Which Dogma do we yell in his face? Does it count as harboring- what?" [21:20] "Good evening, Dawn Sergeant," 14he says. "They're with me. The answer to your question is, 'yes.'" [21:20] "Even Keldar." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "..." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "..." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "......" 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what do you have for me?" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Talk." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The next word is more forced. "Please." [21:21] 14Stranger: "A massive criminal conspiracy directly involving the Guild, and the ongoing poisoning of Astrologer Kratz at the Guild's direction." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes sweep the room for a moment as he reorients. Truth be told, he never did decide whether to tell Stranger to keep his secret with Pellicia or not; probably it's because he didn't, deep down, want to, but maybe he should've figured out a cooler way to spill it. "Yeah, some setup where a rotating team tricks all the wards. They're reporting to Saul, and we'll be paying [21:22] <@Ferrinus> that rat fuck a visit before the night's through." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice... that voice in the east. Upriver. A will that cuts through a hundred human kingdoms like shears through a stem. A procession of thrones that rise like weeds in her wake. She speaks, and Xu Sim hears her. She speaks, and wrests his throat away from him. She speaks, and through his voice, Blossom hears her too. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10My children. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10My sweet, forgotten children. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rest your heads. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Calm your thoughts. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I am coming for you. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Like a thousand other maddened minds in Nexus tonight, Xu Sim hears and speaks and is those words. Like a thousand others trapped in the maze, he sees her face. [21:26] 14Stranger: "Yes. We're moving against him tonight; putting an end to this swiftly. But we cannot...guaranteee...that he'll be in a condition to testify as to his crimes and schemes once we're through. That will be up to him." [21:26] 14He straightens. "So we'd like you to keep his four intermediaries in custody as collateral and insurance." [21:26] 5Xu reaches out for the voice, the face… [21:28] 7Blossom rises and swiftly crosses to Xu Sim's room. "Xu Sim, what in Hell are you doing?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Bring me his head." [21:28] 14Stranger nods. [21:28] 14To Keldar: "We take your lead on this, then." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grins and cracks his knuckles. [21:30] “Apologies, my Lady?” 5Xu withdraws his hand slightly. “Your singing is a Gods-damn distraction. No, wait… Blossom?” [21:31] 3Mud nods gravely, his chins doubling as his jowls smoosh up against his neck fat. [21:31] "How are we going to do this?" [21:32] 14Stranger: "Very carefully." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside Pellicia's office, Keldar's got the other two Solars in a kind of huddle. "Alright, so, Guild functionary carrying out insane unthinkable betrayal of hospitality, gotta have good security. Great security. Magic-great? I dunno about that. I don't think the place can take any one of us, come down to it." [21:33] "Sensible." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But can it get us, you know, bright? I bet so, if we're sloppy. We don't want that. We don't want anyone getting out, either. Frankly, I'm not sure we want to bring in Saul's head and not his body." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like, it's the damn Guild, right? Real shitty enemy to have. Huge. So what'd be great, really great, is if scared Saul so thoroughly shitless that he had no other choice but to tell his bosses everything was going according to plan and he won't need anything for the next year." [21:34] 7Blossom: "I hope this is part of your investigation." 7It would be just perfect if their alchemist was addicted to hallucinogens. [21:34] 14Stranger: "I would make vague noises here about not killing the lot of them, but I doubt we'll have much choice." [21:35] 14Stranger: "I do think his survival would be a tactical success, but we could just as easily force the Guild to disavow him." [21:35] "Through poor publicity." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, his security'n'all's basically dead where they stand, sure. But like I said - no word getting out. Saul's guys like the rooftops and there's plenty where we're going. How far can either of you jump?" [21:36] 3Mud raises a finger. "I don't want to kill anybody." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar laughs. [21:36] 3Mud looks like he's about to cry. [21:36] “Symptoms are as follows: buzzing in ears. Singings. A voice coming from upriver. ‘Do you recall how we came to that place? and sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. They began at the rivers when they set the fires.’” [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...you're ser- fuck are you gonna do, then? There's gotta be a few dozen men in there. Put 'em all in cells?" [21:36] 14Stranger: "...That could be an issue." [21:37] 7Blossom sighs and begins copying this down. [21:37] “More symptoms: lethargy, cold sweat, dissociation.” [21:37] "I think I could do it. [21:37] " [21:38] “Mud and I heard that song, days ago… with a tinkling of bells… Related to the Fair Folk. I told you, we found the Emissary was Balor, yea? I don’t remember right now. Bring me coca leaves, lime, and salt.” [21:39] 14Stranger: "These are not good men, Mud. These are going to be hardened Guild elites we're dealing with. Mercenaries. The amoral kind. Killers of women and children, if told to do so." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who feeds 'em? Who empties the buckets? Who pays? 'cause you don't actually keep every single guard and secretary and spy and whatever quiet otherwise. They get word out Saul's been knocked down, probably even by who, and the Guild does something." [21:39] 14Stranger: "We are great, but not if we humble ourselves." [21:39] "If we treat this like we treated the tower, they will kill us." [21:40] "You could...go back to the hideout, if you wish. Let us handle it." [21:40] 3Mud slumps, defeated. "I will help." [21:41] "They are doing a terrible thing and we have to stop them, or many people will die." [21:41] 14Stranger nods. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, so- how far can you jump? 'cause I can clear a street pretty easy nowadays." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And, much as it pains me to say it, it seeeems like it's you two who get to kick the door down, and me who takes the roof and brings down runners, unless you got better ideas." [21:42] 7Blossom at least knows the traditional sigils for alchemy, and can collect Xu Sim's requested ingredients fairly quickly. [21:43] "I can jump pretty far," 3Mud murmurs. [21:43] 14Stranger: "The front door is fine by me." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans back, then points at the bricklayer. "What we could do is station you up there, get you to stop - not even kill - any runners. If we can salvage Saul somehow, we don't want all his messengers to mysteriously get replaced in the same day." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Maybe I'm being an idiot here, though." [21:46] 5Xu takes them in turn. He seems to forget what he’s doing, like a very tired person might, with his head gently lolling in between taking each item. He starts rolling the leaves into a ball, around a slice of the lime as kindly provided by Blossom. It helps him perk up, somewhat. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How the hell do we make any promise Saul makes to us stick for more than two hours? I can't think of any good hostages offhand." [21:56] 14Stranger: "I have a way." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Okay, how close are they?" [21:57] 14Stranger: "He's very close to Saul. In fact, he's standing in his shoes, right at this very moment." [21:57] 14He smiles. "The Unconquered Sun's gift to me is that of pacts and oaths." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nnnno shit?" [21:57] 14Stranger: "No shit." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar claps his hands and starts pacing. "Okay. Okayyy. That's something. So, so actually, depending on our ability to, like.... reach him... we might even want to leave his shit intact." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hell, not even let anyone know we were there. We get him alone, put a sword to his throat, get him to swear - whatever, serve us, don't threaten the so and so, all of it. Boom, we got a guy." [22:00] 14Stranger nods. "If you can sneak me in, I can ensure that." [22:01] 14He looks over at Mud. "And then we don't have to kill anyone." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then we can work our way up, eventually figure out whose idiot idea this actually was, take them out - or, hell, enslave 'em too - and bam. All tied up." [22:01] "O-okay," 3he sniffles appreciatively. [22:01] 14Stranger: "Point of order: they CAN break the oath. It will merely result in the horrifying cursing and eventual death of them and likely their entire family." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns away, a hand to his chin, now. "Sneak in completely... I mean, I know when the next report to Saul's due to come in. Not sure if they actually end up in a room with him. And I ain't Judge, best I can do is give you a really distracting hat." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn looks up. "Oh, yeah? ...well, I mean, that's, no, I think that's good. Long as they know." [22:11] "Also." 3Mud mutters softly. "I know their cant." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Say again?" [22:12] 14Stranger: "You're joking." [22:12] 3Mud makes a hand gesture and snaps his fingers. "We use it on th elevee when the water's too loud. It's.. I didn't know they were criminals then." [22:13] 14Stranger: "Well they're not ALL criminals, of course! Otherwise this wouldn't be an embarrassing bit of leverage to hold over their heads!" [22:13] "I could maybe.. I don't know, teach a few gestures, just enough to get you in-" [22:14] 14Of course the one who knows the Cant has to be the giant toddler-- [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit, why not just show up at the front door, then." [22:14] 14Stranger forces his annoyance down. [22:18] "Well, that's something, right?" [22:18] 14Kinder: "It most certainly is." [22:24] "If only the Judge were here." [22:24] 3Mud looks left, looks right, sighs again. "If only the Judge were here." [22:26] 4A low, rasping voice says from behind and to the left of Mud, "If wishes were fishes..." [22:27] 14Stranger almost jumps. [22:27] 3Mud closes his eyes, nods, pumps his fist. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Real funny, Mud, but I can recognize oh come on." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim forces himself to wakefulness and mindfulness as best he can, and Blossom reads. [22:28] 14Stranger: "Ah. Judge. Good timing. We need to get into a place, and imperil a man inside." [22:28] 4Judge: "I can get you to Saul... but I can't promise I won't break his damn neck when we get there." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Five days' darkness bind the whims of Heaven. Five days' journey separates Earth from Hell. Five stations crisscross the sky for Sun and Moon. Five Maidens hold the strings of Fate. Five elements pin the World athwart the Wyld. Fivefold are the dictates of the old etiquette. Fivefold are the oaths of the Most High, and fivefold is the duty we have to abide by them and to hold Ignis Divine to abide in turn. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn shakes his head to himself. "All right, no, though. You catch all that, Magala? Cool. If we break his neck, we gotta find who put him up to it first, though - and it'd be nice if no one knew it was us." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Fivefold Principle; the Secret of the Eclipse. [22:30] "I'm late. What do you need him for?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> From within the hideout, Xu Sim and Blossom hear a clangor in the streets outside. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See whose idea poisoning a Councilor actually was. What do you want him dead for?" [22:32] "I used to work with him. For him? Hard to say. He's an asshole, through and through." 4The Judge, an olive-skinned man with a thick moustache, shakes his head. "Killing him would likely be doing Nexus a favor." [22:32] "If we know he is evil, I think that's okay.. I just.. I don't know that every man in there deserves it. You know?" [22:33] 05 Xu, blinking owlishly, makes his way out of the laboratory and over to one of the windows - murderholes - portholes - whatever - that line the street to see what could be going on. [22:33] 14Stranger: "Reasonable." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No one gets what they deserve. It's common, though, to get what you're being paid for." [22:33] "They can't all of them be scoundrels and murderers, can they?" [22:34] "They certainly can. That doesn't mean they are, but odds are pretty good." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll tell you what they all are: adults. They know what they signed up for. What do you think, Magala - go in quiet, try to swear him to us? Or just knock the whole thing down?" [22:36] 14Stranger: "There is generally only one way to use dead men. That is my only comment on the matter." [22:36] "I will defer to your judgments on this." [22:37] "The former, I should say. They may be thieves, but so is almost everyone in this town." [22:37] "Also, it draws less attention." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That case... let's figure out the best actual way in. Between me and Mud we know the signs they're throwing at each other, and I know when the next report's due in. We still need a good luck at the place, though." [22:40] 7Blossom solemnly closes her book and goes over to where Xu Sim is peering outward, to see for herself what's going on. [22:41] 05 Xu chews the wad of lime and coca leaves in his mouth, working it around, and dabbing flakes of salt into his mouth with a free hand from a tiny jar he holds with the other. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's had the foresight to dress in hard-wearing black, hood and scarf both up, before clambering up to rooftop level and doing his best to skulk with care and spy with acuity. As he'll soon learn, though, this ain't his night. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom and Xu Sim see a rider, someone wearing the standard of one of the upriver kingdoms. He's been chased by guards into Floodwater and is laying about them with his straight sword. Both he and the emas he rides are wounded and deformed, their bodies half-distorted and colored. The rider's neck and right shoulder are a sweeping violent abstraction, a line and color that pierces through his battered armor. His right hand, on the sword, has three scaled fingers. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The emas is streaked red and blue, its beak morphed into the blunt snapping mouth of a river turtle. [22:50] 4Judge, being both an experience skulker and spotter, is crouched easily next to Keldar, wearing slate grey rather than black, which blends into the rooftops and buildings better, even at night. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> They are far enough from the hideout that Xu Sim and Blossom can approach in a way that does not draw attention to it. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Should they wish. [22:51] 7Blossom does wish. [22:52] "They began at the rivers where they set the fires," 05 Xu thoughtlessly repeats, before biting down hard on the ball of leaves in his mouth and, at last, spitting it out on the floor. [22:53] "Come on. We need to interrogate that man." 7She'll sneak out of the hideout and carefully approach the fracas. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger appraises the Princess Crimson directly. It's a very fine teahouse, small and attractive and unwindowed enough to suggest it must get very hot inside when it's full, as it is tonight. There are guards posted furtively at the front and rear entrances and its roof and the surrounding rooftops are so flat and even and tightly packed that one could almost walk from one to another as if there were no alleys between them. [22:55] "Wyld mutation that far progressed..." 05 Xu, even in this state, is still quite capable of stealth when necessary. [22:56] 7When she gets close enough, Blossom will emerge from stealth, hands on hips, and demand "What's going on here?!" of the guards. [22:56] 7When she gets close enough, Blossom will emerge from stealth, hands on hips, and demand "What's going on here?!" 7of the guards. [22:57] 05 Xu, on the other hand, holds back for a moment but has his eye on the Wyld-mutated soldier, and his greatbird. [22:58] "You seem to know what you're doing, Stranger." 3Mud is awful at small-talk. "Have you always been like this?" [22:59] 14Stranger: "Been like what?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge knows this place well enough already. The guards are new, he notices, from the last time he was here. Imports. He can tell, too, in their movements in the dark, that they have extensive military training. Further, there are specific vagaries of their training that Judge (and Keldar, if Judge points it out) know to associate with those who have specifically studied in the military doctrine of the Realm and its most loyal satrapies. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge can see further, on one guard, a tattoo - the mark of the Dynastic House Tepet. [23:00] "Realm guards. House Tepet. Something big's going down." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> "Tepet?" 12Keldar repeats. "Tepet?!" [23:00] "You know, the whole... anathema thing. I mean, you said you were a chief before all this...?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the guards perks up. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm putting insane brutal slaughter back on the tab14ohshit." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Almost immediately they home in on Keldar's voice. [23:01] 4The Judge moves to smother Keldar, but it's too late. [23:01] 14Oh, fantastic. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Judge doesn't need to clap a hand over Keldar's mouth or drag the mercenary behind cover, but damage has been done. Are the guards... venturing out curiously? Drawing and shouting Keldar's name? 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> They're retreating inside. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> So too are the guards on the ground. [23:03] "Well, you've done it now," 4The Judge says quietly. "You certainly have put it back on the table, and swept all the other cards off." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees this. And he knows. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He knows that this is not unsalvageable. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> But if he wishes to salvage it, they need to be decisive. And they need to come clean immediately. [23:04] 14That idiot. Okay. How to work this. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> And if they don't... they enter a tea house girded for war. [23:05] 4Come clean? Pfft. [23:05] "People are going to die, aren't they." 3Mud sounds defeated as he raises his fists. [23:05] "There are still things left to say." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards are trying to unseat the rider with their spears but even in this state, the emas is agile and fierce. They're not willing to make a move that might expose them to its jaws or the rider's sword. "Stand back, citizen! This mutant is dangerous." [23:08] "Well, what now? I could still sneak in, but I doubt we could convince them that we come in peace anymore..." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12To what extent does the tea house have, like, regular clientele at the moment? [23:11] 14Stranger steps from the shadows. "Gentlemen. Good evening. You don't want to do that." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> At this hour? It's probably not none. Judge would know that Saul likes to conduct most of his business speaking plainly, if abstractly, in full view of regular paying customers. There is a back room for more discreet deals. On a busy night there might be 10 or 20 patrons and as many Guildsmen. Tonight, though... something feels off. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet? [23:14] 7Blossom: "Is he?" 7Turning to the outrider. "You, sir! What is your name and business!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard freezes, hand straying to his sword. "State your business, stranger. State it quickly." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's preparing for action, clearly. He's retreating a few steps further, only to ball his fists and grit his teeth and begin to edge around to the side such that someone who can jump the way he can suddenly fall from an alarmingly high nearby building on anyone investigating the shout. The Dawn's given pause, though, by the sound of Stranger's voice. [23:23] 14Stranger: "You're a long way from anywhere that tattoo could inspire fear, and there's nowhere in Creation you could frighten me with a sword, so, Realmsman, I'd best describe your tone of voice as unhelpful. You're very lucky we serve the same ultimate master." 14And we do, a Zenith would argue, even if this dog doesn't know it. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom can't immediately make out what he's saying, but Xu Sim can. "THON IS FALLEN! OUR PEOPLE! ALL IS LOST! HELP US! HELP ME!" [23:24] 3Mud and Straw is the background against which Stranger stands. His gut teeters ominously on feet that don't quite seem strong enough to hold their ground. [23:24] 14He makes the proper hand signs or what have you. "We will see Saul. He was correct to have us watch his 'doctors.' He will need to hear our report." [23:24] 05 Xu gasps, and leaps down from the tree he had been preparing to ambush the rider from. [23:25] "At ease, warrior, at ease!" 05 he shouts in Forest-tongue, while waving back the guard. [23:25] 4If Keldar's looking at Judge, as unlikely as it is when Stranger says that, the scowl and look of hate is fierce enough to be unmistakable, even on a different face. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12If that 'Realmsman' was loud enough to be heard a couple stories up, Keldar's eyes are practically bugging out. How in the- [23:27] 7Blossom: "What is he saying?" [23:27] "Thon has fallen, the upriver realms are even now falling to the Fair Folk." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, actually. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> It occurs to Xu Sim that Thon is easily six weeks' travel by caravan from Nexus. Half that by a panicked rider. And who knows what time the Wyld keeps? 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Who knows how much is lost already? [23:29] "...Or they've fallen already. We need..." 05 He braces, blinks, and swallows. That damn buzzing! [23:30] 7Blossom, to the guards: "You heard the man. Thon is fallen, Pellicia's fears are realized. Go and tell her! Go, quickly!" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards, backing up a step, spears still up. "Listen, we've got this under control, girl. Go to bed!" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The teahouse guards' response is automatic. He's stepping aside before the distaste registers on his face. [23:31] "...We need to gather the others and put a stop to this madness before half the Scavenger Lands are sucked into the Marches." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Who's following Stranger in? [23:31] 3The boards creak under the considerable weight that Mud and Straw puts upon them. [23:32] 4The Judge drops from the rooftop so quietly and easily that it seems as if he merely materialized out of the air, a grey shadow at Stranger's side. [23:34] 7Blossom's eyes light with fury. "Girl?! I stood and faced the Fair Folk who rode out of Firewander, and where were you? Do as I say!" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard falls over backing away from Blossom. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Even the emas is given pause. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the other guards helps his fallen comrade up, and begs Blossom's pardon before they leave swiftly. [23:35] 05 Xu clears his throat. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The rider's sword arm gravitates in Xu Sim's direction before his head follows. Xu Sim isn't close enough to be struck, though. Mere reflex moves the rider's hand. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12They only heard one voice, right? And for all they know that's how this swarthy fellow yells the names of random Realm houses. Keldar's staying back, ready to drop like a guillotine if things go the way he's now hoping they will. [23:37] "And we have to do something about these bees, they're carrying some sort of Wyld-tai-Are you in control of your mutation, warrior?" 05 he asks. [23:37] 14Stranger motions curtly for the others to join him, resisting the urge to glare up at where he knows Keldar is. [23:38] 14Damned fool. [23:40] 7Blossom: "Ugh. Imbeciles." 7She turns to Xu Sim. "Can you... can you do anything for him?" [23:41] "I can only arrest the progress of a mutation, or prevent one from commencing... The process, once begun, is all-but irreversible by any art I possess." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger leads the half-circle into a hot and crowded teahouse. There are patrons drinking and gambling on this first floor. The stairs up are flanked by more guards, one Tepet one Guild. Judge knows that it's the second floor that Saul likes to work from. [23:43] 14Stranger will move towards the stairs with icy imperiousness unless Judge stops him. [23:44] 3Mud and Straw will turn his head toward Stranger and catch his eye, apparently asking for direction. Should the fat man follow...? [23:45] 14Absolutely. [23:45] 3He nods and makes for the stairs. [23:45] 4Judge follows Stranger without saying anything. The one Guild one Tepet pattern repeating is curious. Maybe they're watching each other? [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's probably only so far that Keldar can spy on this procession through the windows, so after a while it's just a matter of pressing up against cover and relying on figuratively sharp ears. [23:47] 7Blossom: "Damn. Tell him that the guards are going to tell the Nexus Council his message, then." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> As Judge and Stranger move up, they realize that it is just so. This is not an easy truce here. [23:49] "You know that's not good enough." 05 Xu Sim does his best to calm the rider down nonetheless. [23:50] 14That makes this a bit easier. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> And the fact of it is made plain when they see Saul suspended a few inches off the ground in the right hand of a fine-robed woman wreathed in bitter winds. [23:52] 14Grand. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "They've come like baited fish," she says. "And I have worms aplenty to feed them." [23:54] "I'm going to conjure up a few messengers. One for Keldar, he's got his mercenaries, maybe one for that enormous Nessun Dorma? Who else needs to know right away?" [23:54] "Bottoms up!" 3Mud uncorks a flask from his belt and guzzles it down apropos of nothing. [23:55] Stranger: "Ah. I was hoping to settle this with words." [23:55] 14Stranger: "Ah. I was hoping to settle this with words." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not fair," the rider says, slumping into the emas's back and sobbing as the guards no longer harass him. "It isn't fair. Why us and not them?" [23:56] "I could go either way." [23:56] "Them?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> She offers the Solars a dazzling smile. "We can. We will. But do we need him? I think not. But I am amenable to counterargument." [23:57] 7Blossom: "Is there anyone else?" [23:58] "You're the fine young lady of courts and intrigues and so on, not me!" 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thon is fallen," he mumbles. It seems to have struck him all at once how very tired he is. "They cut through Thon. They cut through Wutian. They cut through Pirayana." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "But not... not Highland." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "They walked through Highland." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "All is lost." [00:01] 05 What is in Highland? 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland is, by Xu Sim's recollection, the largest of the hundred kingdoms. It began in, appropriately, the highlands of the Gray, well upriver, almost adjacent to the great wilderness. Xu Sim heard many tales of it from Novak, who warred with Highland to build his kingdom. Warred, specifically, with the then-prodigy, the teenaged Prince Regent Mori Dogare, who had wandered far from his homeland on a campaign of destabilization. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> But that was 25 years ago. [00:06] 05 Was that the Beast of Highland? 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> It wasn't. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> It is now. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> If the rider's word is true, he has spared his kingdom the ruin of Cethleann. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> But how? [00:09] 7Blossom: "Dorma would be a good choice, if he can get word back to Lookshy, they might be persuaded to send help." [00:12] 05 Xu Sim begins weaving threads of Essence together, into a delicate iridescent dragonfly with six pairs of wings. He whispers Keldar's name to it: then the contralto songsymptom of his dreamsickness, finally, the rider's panicked cry that Thon is lost, and he at last blows upon its wings to strengthen them for their journy to wherever in Nexus Keldar is right now. [00:25] 05 It is a process he repeats, reluctantly, to relay an identical message to Nessun Dorma. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is a braver man than he might admit. [00:27] 05 Admitting bravery is the quickest way to get it tested, so not admitting it is probably just as well. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The test