15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The wolf descends, framed by the gold of the old Deliberative hall and a piercing heat coming in waves from the shattered door beyond. As they've drawn to the end of the story, they've come now to the very base of the tomb, the seat of its power. All that remains is this final test.
[20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's caste mark burns itself into being on his brow as he turns from where the shades of his one-time compatriots stood to the shape of the enormous wolf. His silhouette's darkened from top to bottom, but surrounded in a soft red fire that shines also on his forehead and in his eyes.
[20:58] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan stands her ground in the face of their attacker. She spares a quick glance to Tsuka and his stance, ready to block for him, but damn - he's quick. Now all we have to do is win.
[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Pulses of dawnfire crackle about Keldar's shoulders and then rippled down his arms. His grip on the scavenged red sword in his arm tightens to the point that sparks are cast from the hilt and guard. The mercenary looks up at the oncoming monster and narrows glowing eyes. He's not at all consumed with cold fury for the same reason that the historical Lados surely was at the analogous 
[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12juncture, in the analagous place - but, to the outside observer, that'll make no difference at all.
[21:09] <mattbaby> 5 For the instant before the battle is joined, Xu Sim's robes flutter, though there is no breeze in the tomb.
15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The wolf lashes about faster than anyone can follow, moving more like a trick of the light than a creature of substance. Its fangs are sharp enough, though, to knock everyone onto their back foot and seize Xu Sim, lift him bodily into the air, and hurl him at Keldar. Keldar leaps away, letting the unconscious Xu Sim skid and stop on the cool stone floor where he slowly sinks and vanishes, ensconced in white light. The dramatic attack leaves the wolf exposed, and Tsuka springs forward, leading Keldar in a flanking attack that staggers the wolf.
15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim feels himself drifting awake mere moments later, somewhere hot and cramped and dark with a cool breeze tickling the back of his neck, sending shivers up and down his savagely aching body.
[21:47] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan gets a good drubbing from the wolf and steadies herself scraping her swords along the floor while being knocked back, but -- "Xu Sim!" 13Where the fuck did he go??
[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar burns with red-orange light as he slides backwards, one clenched fist behind the flat of his daiklave as he absorbs the wolf's assault, then blazes as he leaps sideways as Xu Sim flies by. He turns just long enough to note what's happening to the sorcerer's body, then charges forward along with Tsuka to trap the wolf in a burning (figuratively and literally) pincer movement.
[21:48] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim dares to crack open an eye and groans in pain and exhaustion. Where on Earth is he? He's not quite dead - at least, he doesn't think he's quite dead, not yet.
15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> If Xu Sim wriggles in place a bit he'll find himself lying on what feel like dry sticks and stones.
[21:53] <trenchfoot> 13She sprints back towards the great wolf and leaps into the air with a great howling battlecry! She levels multiple strikes at the wolf to drive it into position for the other two surviving members to strike - and there's a lot of sparking as her swords continue making contact with the ground, hooked swords snapping out like a snake's jaws.
[21:53] <mattbaby> 5 How unusual. Dry sticks and stones? No howling wind of Adorjan or somesuch. That's a good sign. He focuses for a moment to see if he can light the way by his Caste mark. That's the surest tell if he is still alive, and, perhaps it can show him if the others are nearby and need help.
15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Oh. They're bones.
[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Keldar, Tsuka, and Xia Lan the hulking monster's trapped in a triangle of blades, sparking as its essence tries to keep up with the assault. The older Green Apple shifts his weight sideways, shooting a glance past the wolf at the younger - and then, upon that glance being returned, offers a curt nod.
[21:54] <mattbaby> 5 Oh. Bones. Human?
15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Hundreds upon hundreds of bones. Human, animal, stranger things... he's pretty sure that's the skull of an erymanthus over there.
15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> They're all bleached white, like they'd been left in the desert for decades.
[21:57] <mattbaby> 5 There room to stand?
15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Not quite. If he rolls over he'll see he's inside a sort of metal casket, which is open a crack. In his current state it'll take him a couple of minutes to push it open, but he's pretty sure he can.
[22:03] <mattbaby> 5 That's a relief. "Hello? Xia Lan? Keldar? Tsuka? ... Lados?" 5 He braces himself against one end of the casket to get a firmer purchase. Pretty odd that the casket would be open like this, unless the wolf carried him in here? He doesn't think it's been quite that long...
[22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar two-hands his sword, slides one boot back a few inches across the stone, and settles into something like a horse stance. There's a rumbling sound that rapidly increases in pitch, like the activation of some great geomantic engine, as the outline and carvings on the mercenary's daiklave glow red, then gold, then pure white.
[22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's next move isn't even visible except as a series of afterimages. He's suddenly a meter or so forward, right at the great wolf's shoulder, his sword held down to his side. Before the warrior is a series of glowing, burning arcs, each describing a savage cut straight through his opponent's essence.
15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Tsuka leaps up behind the wolf, a man on fire, driving both blades into its back like a great viper's fangs. He drags his swords through ribbons of light as the wolf falls to motes beneath his and Keldar's onslaught.
15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim finds himself in a cool, empty room, lined with caskets. Each of them looks different; the one he just left was wrought in cold iron, the one next to that is solid gold, the one after that is a series of jade canopic jars, and the one across from him is a glass tube full of some milky fluid. The floor and walls are marble white.
[22:14] <mattbaby> 5 This seems fine. Perfectly normal. He ambles through the chamber, examining the canopic jar absentmindedly for a moment, before turning his attention to the milky-glass tube for a moment. Strange objects in a strange place. Is there any apparent entrance?
15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> As Keldar and Tsuka land on their feet, the sparks of the wolf have already recoalesced into a bestial juggernaut with a wolf's head and burning silver etched on its body. It digs its claws into the floor and wild silver tendrils swirl out and spin around, burning so hot that the air in the tomb shimmers violently and the crystal warding them against the heat gutters and flares.
[22:15] <trenchfoot> 13What in the damned--
[22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar starts. "Second one again! Stack, then spread!"
[22:24] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan casually dodges at Keldar's words, then launches herself at the replacement for the wolf. More double-fanged attacks with both swords striking as one... and then she peels off, weaving in place, considering all angles. Something flickers in her eyes, registers: prey.
15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim learns much as he wanders. He can feel and observe that he's near the very heart of this manse's power, and its essence moves through him as easily as water through the gills of a fish. It's lightly euphoric. What's more, he can tell that this tomb is ancillary to the larger structure, connected to whatever hub or core the manse has but also at a remove, and shielded from it by the place's natural geomancy. That explains why the room is so much cooler.
[22:33] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim has suspected that something is off about the natural geomancy of this place. Perhaps, if he made the right changes, it could reset things and restore the correct balance of the tomb.
15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> By examining the bones and the jars - he crawled out of a large, damaged casket full of once-carefully arranged bones of laborers, beasts of burden, and demons. These other caskets mark an architect, a foreman, a surveyor, and a geomancer. Xu Sim realizes with a start that the builders of the tomb were buried in it.
15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The one thing he doesn't see... is the way out.
[22:38] <trenchfoot> 13Prey. This is workable, even if it is a fucked up wolf-man. There's the throat. There's the heart. There's the places on the legs that nobody ever remembers to guard. Xia Lan launches herself towards and slightly behind the wolf and scrapes his(? presumably) legs in passing - it's not fatal, but it'll slow the bastard down. And after the way Keldar absolutely demolished the first wolf...
[22:43] <mattbaby> 5 That might explain why it was built in the Shogunate, at least. 
15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Try as he might, Xu Sim can't figure out where the exit to this crypt is. Maybe there isn't one? But he got here somehow...
[22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's a little less practiced at fighting giant bipeds than giant quadrupeds - but far more so than, for instance, most other Green Apples. He's getting used, to, to the furnace rhythm with which Tsuka strikes and retreats, and the benefits that come with synching up.
[22:52] <mattbaby> 5 This is quite absurd. Xu Sim is certain, just certain, that there has to be a way in. After all, there is that ever-so-slight circulation of air... ah, perhaps a moment's diversion could help. Xu Sim produces his steambreather and puffs on it a few times - in a matter of seconds, producing a cloud of scented vapors. He watches their motion ever-so-carefully to see where the air is 
[22:52] <mattbaby> 5coming and going.
15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> That's clever! Xu Sim is able to watch the vapor curl and twist through the room, drifting across the way and... vanishing into a solid brick?
[22:56] <mattbaby> 5 He presses his hand to the brick! Too bad he doesn't ahve one of Keldar's collapsible poles - an illusory wall is tricky, an illusory floor could easily be deadly.
15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> His hand passes through! Ingenious.
[22:58] <mattbaby> 5 Excellent. Xu Sim steps into the wall, feeling carefully with his feet so as not to trip on any real bricks or try to step on a false one.
[23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes alight as he sees Tsuka move up. Points of articulation and interlock in the combinations of blows he's been using go off in his head like fireworks. A great golden shield materializes before him, held by a looming, armored warrior, and then the mercenary goes crashing forward through it with his daiklave drawing a solid trail of white-hot light through teh air.
[23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The armored wolf-man's dismantled. One blow knocks one claw aside, a second deflects the other, the third comes crashing down across a shoulder plate to shatter the pillar of his balance. Then, before Keldar's even landed on the ground, his anima revs audibly and his sword moves too fast to see, carving another knot of cutting, killing light straight through the head and torso of 
[23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12the foe.
[23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12As Keldar lands, he's just glowing softly, his caste mark clearly visible again. It looks like he drew his entire anima into his sword before venting it into the armored general.
15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim walks a long cold corridor, solid metal beneath his feet. The walls are inscribed with minute details, a jargony shorthand form of Old Realm which seems to denote the coming and going of supplies, personnel, dates and durations... the manse's construction is detailed here! It seems to have taken about seven years, from beginning to end, if he compares the last date where he began to the earliest date at the far end of another false wall.
15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> at the far end of the corridor, near another false wall.*
15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> No sooner has Keldar vaporized the armored general than a short, wiry man with close-cropped blond hair is there, admiration playing across a face that doesn't wear admiration well. It's there only briefly before his expression settles into something more comfortably stoic.
15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nice."
[23:11] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "What." 13She keeps her guard up just in case this guy turns into a third wolf.
[23:11] <mattbaby> 5 Utterly fascinating! Xu Sim skims it as he walks.'
[23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tilts his head slightly. His daiklave's held loosely back now, and for the moment his anima's low. "...yeah?"
15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like the most difficult part of the project was transposing it from the Underworld, where it was built, to Creation. This required a staggering sorcerous effort and bled the demesne in ways from which it hasn't fully recovered, even a thousand years later. And he can feel that power cresting not far ahead. Just past this wall, the spiritual and magical heart of the Tomb of Cold Iron.
15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "So that's what a Chosen of the Sun can do, huh? I guess you all do earn your egos."
[23:15] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "You got a name?"
15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who was he? What'd he do to deserve that?"
[23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Figured you'd know."
15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> He winks at Xia Lan. "Call me whatever you want, babe."
[23:16] <trenchfoot> 13She scowls. "Okay, shithead. You got an actual name or should I stick with that?"
15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka scowls, moving to flank the man with Keldar.
15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Yikes! Hint taken."
15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "By reputation, maybe. But the way you laid into him it looked personal."
[23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah? Well this tomb's getting personal. It should stick to the history lessons."
15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim crosses the threshold of the last false wall, and enters... an empty space. The room is enormous, forming a cube 30 yards to a size, wall, ceiling, and floor all flat, immaculate, featureless white.
[23:19] <mattbaby> "Built in the underworld," 5 mutters the sorceror as he examines this new chamber.
15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "You get that angry a lot?"
15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka hisses: "This is a trap."
[23:23] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan whispers back: "Yeah, but what do we do about it? Other than wait for it to snap down on us like a bunch of chumps."
[23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know, not lately. Most people know when to tread lightly." 12He points with his daiklave. "But not you, eh? Don't need to watch yourself when you ain't even real. This all your idea?"
[23:24] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim looks around this chamber with sight-beyond sight. He has precious little time to determine how to bring this place under control.
15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The man looks rueful. "Only half."
[23:24] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "What's the other half, Shithead?" 13She says it like it's his name. I mean, he didn't disagree.
15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim can tell that there are false walls in this chamber, though unlike the one he just went through, these walls merely obscure the seams in proper sealed iron doors, rather than being totally permeable.
15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The man looks at Xia Lan and cocks his head in Keldar's direction. "It takes two people to make a promise. It takes two people to break one."
[23:28] <trenchfoot> 13Well if that ain't as ominous as all get out. "You know where our friend is? Doctor, kinda short, pretty much an asshole?"
15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Sorry."
[23:29] <trenchfoot> 13Her eyes narrow. "Sorry how."
[23:31] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim begins mixing his reagents - calling forth the six-winged messenger whisp that is always just at the corner of your eye when you look at him.
[23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Depends on the promise."
[23:32] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Keldar, no, we can legislate the past later -- where is Xu Sim."
15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "I don't know where your friend is."
[23:32] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Congratulations, you've been promoted to Useless Shithead."
[23:32] <mattbaby> 5 He sends it forth with a simple message: "I'm in the control room - where the hell are you? You haven't killed the wolf yet? It remains out of our grasp."
[23:33] <mattbaby> 5 He releases the whisp and collapses to his knees to await - some sort of reply. Though he at least notes its direction of travel.
[23:34] <trenchfoot> 13She throws up her hands. "I guess you get to legislate the past now. Have some fucking fun with it. Tsuka, help me check the perimeter?"
[23:34] <trenchfoot> 13She censors herself after the fact. "...some freaking fun with it."
15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...sure."
15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Anyway. I've just got one thing left to do here."
15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "I need you to promise me something."
[23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Let's hear it."
[23:36] <trenchfoot> 13She tries not to let her bad mood bubble over to Tsuka. As they check the edges: "...sorry. Not in the best mood after the wolf thing, and this guy."
15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The messenger reaches Keldar immediately.
15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "You're going to meet me again someday. Not me but... you know. Like you're not Lados."
15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I need you to promise me that whenever you see me next, whoever I am, whatever I'm doing... you'll forgive me."
15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You'll give me a second chance."
[23:37] <trenchfoot> 13Oh, fuck off.
15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm just surprised you censored yourself."
15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Idols not allowed to swear?"
[23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar lowered his sword a bit, but raises it again to point more dramatically as he responds. "I don't- eh?" 12There's suddenly a six-winged wisp at his ear, whispering something. He tilts his head to better hear. "...we've, uh, killed it twice. Don't know which way the 'control room' is, guess I can ask."
[23:38] <trenchfoot> 13Doubtful that Xia Lan can even hear the guy, but. "No. It's bad for sales, I'm told - people want something for their kids, mostly."
[23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar continues to address the tiny messenger. "Find you as soon as we can." 12Then he turns back to the man. "You got a name he'll remember?"
[23:40] <trenchfoot> 13She seems grumpy, but in a way that isn't directed towards Tsuka. "I try the best I can. On stage, it's fine. Off stage... people need to stop being so f- awful."
15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> He shakes his head. "I hope not."
15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hope he doesn't remember any of this."
[23:40] <mattbaby> 5 Wherever he is, Xu Sim opens his eyes and takes another pull on the steambreather. This is ridiculous.
[23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, I remember barely any of this, and barely any of you. Whoever you are now's got nothin' to fear from me that he didn't sign up for."
15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the thing."
15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "We both knew what we signed up for, and it left us here. At each other's throats. In each other's graves."
15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I need you to promise me more than that."
15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Now, if you do swear, it'll stun the whole room."
[23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either I'm not Lados, and he's not you, and we've got nothing against each other that we didn't bring in this life..."
[23:45] <trenchfoot> 13She relaxes slightly. "That
[23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or we are... but for all I know, we both had this coming. You did, anyway."
[23:45] <trenchfoot> 's... mostly on purpose."
[23:46] <trenchfoot> "Saves value. Keeps the public stuff dramatic. Ah. If I just, cussed up and down, nobody'd take me seriously as an idol."
[23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't forgive a wrong that wasn't done to me, and I won't forgive a wrong that was done to me just 'cause I forgot it. But I'm sure your reincarnation's the reasonable sort and you got nothin' to worry about."
15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I would. But I can only afford so many tickets."
15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're really stingy with their cadets."
[23:47] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "..." 13She's blushing. Really hard, actually.
[23:47] <Crion|> 14All according to plan.
15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, looking away: "I hope he finishes this soon. I feel like the crystal's starting to go out."
15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "No! No, this is wrong. I need you to hold your hand out even if it's dangerous. Even if it's stupid. Even if you only give them half a chance, give it to them."
15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't be sensible. Be generous, instead."
[23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or what."
15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "...or nothing."
15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "The cycle can't continue. That's my mandate. That's the test."
15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you forgive a wrong you don't remember, and a wrong that hasn't happened?"
[23:52] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Starting to-- "13 Well, back to defensive posture. "What do you mean going out?"
15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The effect of the man's half-sheepish earnestness is belied by his standing over Keldar, nearly 10 fulms tall.
15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks back, and his face is red too. "You don't think? Maybe it's just me..."
[23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his mouth around a bit. At this point he's using his daiklave as a sort of oversized walking stick. "Buddy, I'm not even in the business of forgiving the ones I do."
[23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So now what?"
15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "I don't know. I think that's it. I can't open the door. You guys just go home, I guess. Or tear the whole thing down."
[23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks up at the ceiling. "Voice! Lados! You got any input here?"
15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "You're right not to back down. No reward is greater than your honor. No gift given of greater worth than your word."
15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Listen to him! Listen to that! That's the voice that put us here."
15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Please. I'm asking you. Don't let this happen again."
[23:59] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Hour left. We've got this." 13She extends a fist towards Tsuka. "...we're talking once we get out, by the way."
[23:59] <trenchfoot> "Somewhere that isn't fatal to hang out in."
[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm here 'cause I'm after my old armory. 'cause I need the whole tomb behind me. Again's the whole point."
15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka returns the fistbump. "I'm in."
15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Please. I can't... this is all I can do. This is my last chance to turn you aside."
[00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nah. You were someone's last chance to turn me aside. But they're gone. If you're right - if you really believe it - whoever you're asking me to forgive will tell me the same thing, won't they?"
15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The man, weakly: "I don't know."
15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The man fades away. "I don't know..."
[00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll tell them what you told me."
15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The room fades away. Keldar, Xia Lan, and Tsuka are standing in a white iron dome with a sealed door ahead and an open door behind.
15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the door grinds open just as, in the central chamber, Xu Sim feels the entire place thrum to life.
15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "Victory!"
15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a little fanfare.
[00:11] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim starts, and then winces.
[00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got a tight look on his face. He was in the middle of drawing a slow breath when the little tune played. "...ah. Yeah."
[00:12] <mattbaby> "A little help in here," 5 Xu Sim calls out, weakly.
15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Against monstrosity, you have proved mighty. Against chaos, you have proven crafty. And against temptation, you have proved worthy. Embrace your birthright, accept my gifts, and rise ascendant!"
[00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rolls his shoulders before snapping his borrowed daiklave onto the back of his armor. He looks over at Tsuka and Xia Lan. "Let's go. We might've done it."
15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The doors in the white room grind open, some revealing great chests, and one revealing a corridor connecting Keldar and the others to Xu Sim.
[00:15] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim is splayed out on the floor, a trail of blood smeared across the pristine white walls from the direction of the worker-tombs.
[00:15] <mattbaby> 5 A pungent cloud hangs in the air above him.
[00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's hurrying forward. "Xu Sim! You alive?"
[00:16] <mattbaby> "Took your time," 5 he mumbles.
15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka will kneel down by Xu Sim. "I have bandages," he says. "How did you make it this far?"
[00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wolf had like two other forms. Pretty tenacious."
[00:18] <mattbaby> "Help me up," 5mumbles the sorceror, gesturing at one of the walls of the chamber.
[00:19] <mattbaby> 5 He's in rough shape, though not as bad as he was after the assassination attempt, at least.
[00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Xu Sim a shoulder. He's not gonna just stand still with the old sorcerer, though; gotta check out what's now become available. Is it still blisteringly hot?
15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Not in here. In here it's nice and cool.
15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Most of the chests are lateral, huge iron sarcophagi-shaped things, but one of them is tall and narrow, like a wardrobe.
[00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's going to do a full inventory, but he shouts for Lados's attention first. "Oi! You control the climate in here yet? Can you keep things cool no matter how long we're down here?"
[00:21] <mattbaby> "This door's broken," 5 coughs the sorceror, gesturing at a blank patch of wall.
15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice: "You can control the tomb yourself."
15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the doors that did open raised a pedestal with a cracked blue orb on it.
15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not a very tall pedestal, though. Maybe two fulms off the ground.
15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Must've gotten stuck.
[00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises an eyebrow. He tries, for a moment, to see if he can just concentrate on doors or flex muscles to move them around, but after a moment approaches, stares at, and then just plain puts a hand on the orb.
[00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12After, uh, crouching a bit.
[00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, this is a fuck. I can open the... yep." 12Hums and clicking sounds emanate from the various chests. "Yeah, those. And I can turn the heat off." 12The air chills slightly, and, in the distance, ceases to visibly ripple. "...or turn it back on." 12There it is. "But that's it."
[00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't wanna kill the foundry. Let's get everything quick, march it back on up, and then figure out topside what we'll do next."
[00:28] <mattbaby> "The flow of magic here, the geomancy, I can fix it... I know I can," 5 protests the sorceror, weakly.
[00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like right now? 'cause otherwise we need to move fast."
15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The central, narrow chest unfolds, revealing an array of gleaming orichalcum and moonsilver: these must be the armaments the voice of the tomb mentioned, the Equinox Braves, resting on a golden statue of Lados: https://i.imgur.com/2A4v0Yy.jpg
[00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks a few times. "Well... okay, let's see."
15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Going to be an awkward fit into that armor...
[00:36] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim focuses, bringing the last dregs of his focus to bear. His vision is blurry, but the Copper Spiders know no obstacles and make no excuses. His Caste mark flaring into new mandalas of power, the sorceror reconfigures his mind and soul to restore ancient knowledge, and then begins rearranging some of the lynchpins of the geomantic power of the place.
[00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12At least the weapon's usable, though it's probably the equivalent of a short sword by the standards of the Chosen. Either way, Keldar puts his borrowed daiklave aside and begins to take up the Equinox Braves, trying out their weight and heft and seeing how they respond to attunement.
[00:37] <mattbaby> 5 Subtle alterations to this Manse's holy Essence, its otherworldly nature, Xu Sim brings things back, closer to the way they once were, thousands of years ago.
15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Actually, this golden sword is the size of a proper daiklave! It was the size of a grand daiklave in Lados's hands, though.
[00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Then how'd he wield it with a shield...?
15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Try it and see.
[00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Alright, let's see here. Keldar's always preferred to keep a hand free, but he's used a shield before and you can be a real asshole with one if you're willing. Orichalcu and moonsilver are both impossibly slow and heavy in his hands, until Keldar draws and releases a breath and they rapidly lighten over the course of a few seconds.
[00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes several steps back, and as he does, the shield dissolves into moonlight and the sword gleams along the edges and down the groove in the center. He finds himself holding a two-handed blade of intermixed, razor-sharp gold and silver. "Here we go. Heeere we go. But what else..." 12Burning Tizona's left on the ground and Terminus leaning against a wall as Keldar reaches 
[00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12forward and lifts up the tiny suit of armor. Maybe it can change size..?
15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The moonsilver joints beneath the plate actually do let it stretch quite a ways.
[00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, sweet. That's the benefit of being on good terms with the ravening Wyld-dwellers, Keldar supposes. Before long, the warrior's doffed "Vectron" and is clad in metals matching that of his sword. Pretty sweet.
15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Other treasures include a book of pressed jade sheets, each page detachable and covered with intricate black-and-green lines. There's also many other trinkets and gifts: a simple silver harp, an orichalcum pendant featuring an engraving of women with their hands to their ears, and an articulated clockwork cat, which is either broken, deactivated, or asleep.
15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Jurisdictional Disputes
15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Centered Circle emerges from the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron richer, more famous, and more emotionally troubled than they've ever been. The Tomb has been a fixture of the city for longer than there's been a city; taking it's been the idle daydream of everyone from little kids playing bandit and magistrate to blooded mercenaries dreaming of glory. And everyone knows the names of the people behind it: Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus! The Unfettered Xia Lan! Hero of the people Xu Sim! And their outcaste man-at-arms, Tsuka!
15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Who tells Stranger what happened, and what do they say?
[20:01] <Crion_> 14When they return -- whenever they return -- he will be waiting with a few kettles of tea on the common room fire.
15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, actually, goes home. Which is to say back to the Green Apple barracks in Bastion. Keldar has a bunch of details to square away with the Guild. So it'll just be Xia Lan and possibly Xu Sim who tell him what's up.
[20:04] <trenchfoot> 13Is Xu Sim coming back to the hideout, or is he treating himself somewhere else? Xia Lan will help him home, if he's going there.
[20:06] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim will go back to the hideout - he's been badly hurt, that much is clear, but he gives a game wave to any crowds of onlookers and he'll accept Xia Lan's assistance getting back.
[20:06] <trenchfoot> 13Then they enter together, Xia Lan buzzing with excitement but covering it, mostly out of sympathy for Xu Sim's wounds. "Stranger! We're back!"
[20:08] <mattbaby> 5 The Twice-Refined Princess is waiting for them, sitting next to a small pile of well-chewed scraps. Scraps of what? Not what you'd normally think of as dog food, actually.
[20:08] <trenchfoot> 13If it's scraps of people Xia Lan is dropping him right now.
[20:09] <mattbaby> 5 Looks like bits of wood, metal, cloth, bone.
[20:10] <Crion_> 14Stranger looks them over, spending a longer beat on Xu Sim before turning back to Xia Lan with a smile: "Excellent. I take it Keldar and Tsuka have returned to the Apples garrison?"
[20:10] <trenchfoot> 13That is... bizarre but acceptable.
[20:11] <Crion_> 14Given that no one is in mourning, the other option -- that they're dead -- seems off the table.
[20:11] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Yep! All alive and kicking and with some pretty sweet loot, too."
[20:12] <Crion_> 14He raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" 14Then a chuckle. "Anything interesting that hasn't been claimed?"
[20:14] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan sideeyes Xu Sim. "I sort of lost track towards the end there - pretty sure we've got some stuff, yeah?"
[20:15] <mattbaby> "Oh yeah. The place is a manse - I think I could get it up and running in a few days, once I feel better. Show him the book and the cat," 5 suggests the sorceror.
[20:15] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "To clarify -- anything that isn't a weapon."
[20:17] <Crion_> 14Is the cat still or has it been activated?
[20:17] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan lets him down into, like, a chair or something to rest so she can get to her pack. "Let's see... actually pretty light on weaponry from what I remember, you should've seen the other guys... aha!" 13She opens it: behold, a large book and a weird-looking cat. "The Codex, and the Clockwork Cat. Not a clue what the cat does."
15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> If Xu Sim's tried wafting food in front of it, it's vibrating gently in the sack, mimicking gentle snores. If he hasn't, it's just inert.
[20:18] <Crion_> 14Either way, he'll run his hand along its smooth back once or twice as if petting it, then examine the book.
[20:19] <trenchfoot> 13She taps her feet gently to some unseen tune while looking at Stranger, occasionally touching at the pendant. This... is pretty incredible.
[20:19] <mattbaby> "I think we have some more of that brined fish around here," 5 suggests the doctor as he lays himself down, wincing.
[20:19] <mattbaby> "Give some to the cat there," 5 he suggests.
[20:21] <Crion_> 14Stranger is walking to the kitchen with the book in his hand. "We do," 14he mutters, removing some from the barrel without looking away from the tome. He gently places the clockwork cat on the kitchen counter and then puts the fish in front of it without looking away from the jade and onyx work.
[20:22] <Crion_> "Ten pages," 14he mutters.
[20:22] <trenchfoot> 13Same thing for Xu Sim, after a minute. More energetic tapping along with some humming, this time -- "Ten pages of what?"
[20:23] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "Context."
15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat whirs to life. "Master!" the cat calls in a chipper, feminine voice.
15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Jade whiskers twitch. "Mistress?"
[20:24] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan stops humming abruptly and her head whips around to regard the cat. "Um."
[20:24] <Crion_> "Two masters, one mistress," 14Stranger says. "And three who would prefer neither."
[20:24] <Crion_> 14He glares at Xu Sim on that last.
[20:25] <Crion_> 14If he wants to demand the cat call him Master, he can explain it to Princess.
[20:25] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim is petting Princess, who has settled down to sit on his chest. He doesn't appear to notice.
[20:25] <Crion_> 14Excellent.
15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> What is Stranger speaking to the cat? It spoke in Old Realm.
[20:26] <Crion_> 14He began in Old Realm, but transitions to High Realm here: "What tongues do you contain?" 14is the exact translation.
15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat: "Oh, all of them!"
[20:27] <Crion_> 14In Riverspeak: "Well, then that is excellent."
15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat responds in kind. "All of the important ones anyway. From Airtongue to Zaniman."
[20:27] <Crion_> 14Oh my. In Forest-Tongue: "What is your name?"
15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mhaka."
[20:28] <trenchfoot> 13Flametongue: "And - what's the last thing you remember before waking up?"
15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I ask yours?"
[20:28] <trenchfoot> 13She bows slightly. "The Unfettered Xia Lan."
[20:28] <Crion_> 14Back to Old Realm: "Stranger-Visits-Heaven."
[20:28] <Crion_> 14He tests one of the pages in this book. How difficult are they to remove?
15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> They're very resistant to abruptly yanking out, but the mechanism for unhooking and detaching them is simple, intuitive, and works flawlessly.
[20:32] <Crion_> 14He runs a single finger down the quick of the binding, then, and detaches the first of the ten. How does it hold up to handling? Will it fold, take abuse, and bend without complaint? Hopefully it is easy to conceal.
[20:32] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim spends a moment fiddling with the Twice-Refined Princess's mouth, and some odds and ends from the couch he's reclined on.
15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It behaves much like a sheet of paper would. It'll take a couple of folds, fit in a pocket.
[20:33] <Crion_> 14Are there any worries about durability? Does it resist tearing and crumpling?
15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka turns its gleaming head to regard Xu Sim and Princess. "May I ask your names?"
[20:34] <mattbaby> "Xu Sim, and this is Twice-Refined Princess." 5 The dog is quite wary of this strange being.
[20:34] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim answers in ordinary Riverspeak.
15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "My pleasure to meet you all." Mhaka answers Xia Lan in perfect, if archaic Flametongue. "I was left as an offering at the tomb of a great hero, a gift from an admirer to honor his memory."
[20:37] <mattbaby> "Xia Lan, take this-" 5 he proffers a dripping lump of fabric - "Put this in some water with your new outfit and agitate it for a few minutes, should clean it right out."
[20:38] <Crion_> 14Disgusting, but effective.
[20:38] <trenchfoot> 13She takes it with obvious distaste. "I will be sure to do that. Mhaka, do you know when that was?"
[20:39] <Crion_> 14Assuming the pages can handle the stress with ease, Stranger will fold the first page into a paper airplane and shoot it in Xu Sim's direction. "Catch."
[20:40] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim snatches it from the air, confused. "The tomb was built and, I think, sealed, in the early days of the Shogunate."
[20:40] <Crion_> 14Then he snaps the book shut. "Stay here," 14he says to Xu Sim.
[20:40] <mattbaby> "I'm not going anywhere," 5 he protests.
[20:42] <Crion_> 14He steps down through their emergency exit into the sewers, walks about forty paces, then places his hand on the book and concentrates, identifying the particular nonsense words and diagrams on the first page in his mind, visualizing them, and turning them into a conduit for meaning. Speaking aloud: "Call upon Xu Sim."
15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka: "I believe the tomb's dedication, and mine, were dated to the tenth Ascending Air, in FDC 14."
[20:42] <Crion_> 14Hopefully he just needs the name of the holder, not the page's number--
15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> He does, strictly speaking, need a number, but the good news is the Codex will do that work for him, responding to his commands and pulling the correct number from its own memory.
[20:43] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan regathers her things and moves them into her quarters while still listening to the general conversation. The Skin of the Loyal passed muster admirably on the way out of the tomb, and she can wash it later, when they're finished catching up... and she's acclimiated to the idea of washing her clothing with that thing. There's a weird catch in her step - what is this music - and she steps back in to grab the harp. Tempter 
[20:43] <trenchfoot> Sent, it was called.
[20:44] <Crion_> 14Then he waits for...whatever is supposed to happen here, to happen.
15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim feels a vibration in his back teeth, and knows that Stranger is trying to contact him. He feels on the precipice of a decision: does he accept the contact or ignore it?
[20:44] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim accepts it. What a strange sensation! He must know more.
[20:45] <trenchfoot> 13She sits back in her chair, harp ready for nearby use. How can she translate that song... Also, how long ago was FDC 14?
[20:45] <Crion_> 14Stranger feels the power of the book release, and knows he is connected. "Can you hear me, Xu Sim?" 14he says aloud to the sewer.
[20:47] <mattbaby> "It turned you invisible?" 5 he jokes, fairly impressed. "Can you hear him?" 5 he asks Xia Lan and Mhaka.
[20:47] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Turned - what?"
15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> They can't hear him.
[20:48] <trenchfoot> 13Either of them? Or just Stranger?
[20:48] <mattbaby> "Ahh. Well. Excellent. A powerful variant of my messenger wisps."
[20:48] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "Yes. I am invisible, in the sense that I am no longer in the same room as you. Keep that piece of jade 'paper' on you at all times, please."
[20:48] <Crion_> 14Stranger will end the connection and walk back inside.
[20:50] <mattbaby> "All very fun, but that manse could be a very powerful asset to us. I don't exaggerate when I say it could help turn the tide of battle. I need magical materials, whatever you can scrounge up - and then, iron. As much iron as you can find." 
[20:50] <Crion_> 14Once inside, he'll open the book again -- the Codex -- and draw his finger down the binding of the second page. This one he'll hand to Xia Lan, and quickly test it out with her in a similar fashion.
[20:50] <Crion_> 14To Xu Sim: "That sounds like a job for the mercantile power of the Guild."
[20:51] <trenchfoot> 13She takes it, silently moving through everything she's learned in the course of her studies... "...that's a really, really long time ago."
[20:52] <Crion_> 14To Xu Sim: "By which I mean get me a precise, itemized list of everything you need, and be prepared to stand in front of the Council and argue as to why it is necessary."
15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka: "Alas."
15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Still. Think of all the beauty sleep I got."
[20:57] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim is already asleep.
[20:58] <trenchfoot> 13Quietly: "He got hit pretty hard in the last room. Giant wolf just leapt on him, nothing any of us could do."
[21:01] <Crion_> 14Stranger has been busy while they were in the tomb -- and is similarly busy over the next few days. The Emissary of Nexus has opened a formal inquiry into the process by which the Emissary of Nexus is expected to do its own job, and that means the Office of the Judiciary -- an otherwise rump bureaucratic also-ran prized primarily for its large supply of rubber stamps -- is under full 
[21:01] <Crion_> 14investigation.
[21:01] <Crion_> 14Full investigation.
[21:02] <Crion_> 14He doesn't let them know that first thing, though. The first thing that Stranger does is...use his administrative and budgetary discretion to expand the Office's floor space and increase its funding, provisionally, twice over.
15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds the organization yields to his work like wheat to a scythe. Everyone in the Office is either relieved at the prospect of a new broom, or at least canny enough to try to keep their head down.
[21:03] <Crion_> 14He'll have to go to the Council to make this a permanent expenditure from coffers past this budget period, but that's fine. He's making a statement of priorities.
[21:04] <Crion_> 14The next thing he does is sit down with the...Judges? Justices? What's the formal title here?
15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Office of the Judiciary has a team of judges, who hear suits and complaints brought by the city's arbiters and advocates.
[21:07] <Crion_> 14Judges, then. He sits down with the full team to get their measure. He can use about half of them. The other half he'll replace either on principle or merit; he doesn't forsee this being an issue, because he's already promised them lateral jobs in other parts of the city bureaucracy and full recognition of their pensions. That's an easy promise to make when the world's about to end 
[21:07] <Crion_> 14(and you think people should have pensions). At the end of the meeting, though, he asks Chief Judge Dia Baran to remain.
[21:07] <Crion_> 14He knows she's a Guild proxy; he doesn't hold it against her. It's just not an arrangement that works anymore.
[21:10] <Crion_> 14So Stranger lets her know about the deal he has with the Overfactor -- about good faith -- and then lets her know she has a choice. She can accept a reassignment as a favor to Stranger-Visits-Heaven, one owed to the Guild of Nexus, with the knowledge that the Guild now can ask a favor of Stranger-Visits-Heaven in return...with the bonus of a very limited personal favor that she can 
[21:10] <Crion_> 14ask of him as well, divorced entirely from the Guild. Or she can turn this into a process.
[21:10] <Crion_> 14He makes it clear he is prepared for a process.
15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Dia Baran chooses correctly.
[21:11] <Crion_> 14Excellent! Stranger makes sure she ends up in some Guild-adjacent job elsewhere in the Nexus bureaucracy. She and the Guild still hold their favors.
[21:12] <Crion_> 14After that, it's to an even more important group of workers: the administration of the Office. The secretaries and the clerks.
[21:13] <Crion_> 14He holds a general staff meeting, and picks off the ones he doesn't like one by one. They get pensions and, if they're young enough, transfers. But Stranger is likely putting some old-timers out to pasture here.
[21:16] <Crion_> 14Stranger is careful not to force Head Clerk Whitefeather into any of these dismissal meetings; his job, as far as Stranger is concerned, is collecting up the names of all the functionaries he's dreamed about having on his team and presenting them to Stranger, so that Stranger can go get them.
[21:16] <Crion_> 14And after Stranger does all that, it's time to fill out the empty spots on the judiciary and get this office up and running.
[21:19] <Crion_> 14Perhaps the most divisive choice comes at the end, when, to the post of Chief Judge, Stranger-Visits-Heaven appoints...a criminal.
[21:19] <trenchfoot> 13He does what?
[21:28] <Crion_> 14Sion: Fear Has Wings has been forcibly laboring for a Guild venture for some three years now. He used to be a respected -- if eccentric -- arbiter, until he took on the case of an assaulted priestess of the Gray. She survived, and was offered remuneration; she was foolish enough to want justice, and he was foolish enough to seek it for her. One thing led to another; she was lawfully 
[21:28] <Crion_> 14killed on the steps outside the Council Tower...
[21:28] <Crion_> 14...and Sion attacked opposing counsel. That's a violation of the Civilities.
[21:28] <trenchfoot> 13Oh! Oh a different - narrative objection withdrawn.
[21:31] <Crion_> 14After an examination of the Civility in question, however, Stranger has found that while the term of his sentence is clear -- ten years -- it is wholly unclear as to the sentence's nature. And there are no supplementary cases. So Chief Judge Sion: Fear Has Wings makes it a point, when he brings his court to session, to note that he is still a prisoner of the very Dogmas and Civilities 
[21:31] <Crion_> 14he uses to dispense justice...and that he would be quite displeased if anyone in his courtroom took the law of Nexus, or its outcomes, less seriously than he himself.
[21:33] <Crion_> "And that," 14Stranger says to himself three days after this whirlwind began, sitting in the public seating of the judiciary's main courtroom, "seems to be that."
15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> What are Xu Sim and Xia Lan up to over the days that Stranger's project takes? Xia Lan will have Council business aplenty to occupy her if she likes it, and of course Xu Sim's counsel is sought on any number of issues by any number of the city's movers and shakers.
[21:39] <trenchfoot> 13Whatever Council business is required... but also, she's going to need to talk to Tsuka. You know! To check on him after the dungeon crawl and the duel with Stranger. Just checking in, ha ha.
15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka is actually busy a lot. There's training, and drills, and more training, and strategy... he never seems willing to commit to hanging out for more than a couple of minutes.
[21:41] <trenchfoot> 13Then she throws herself into Council business as thoroughly as she can.
[21:41] <trenchfoot> 13Maybe starts drawing up plans for a benefit concert-recruitment signup.
15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Now, as Stranger knows, the most efficient way to swing a Council vote is to make sure you've pressed the Council before they sit down. Once they sit down, trying to make their minds up is like trying to steer a hurricane.
[21:58] <Crion_> 14Which is not impossible.
[21:58] <Crion_> 14But yes, you try to seed the wind.
[21:59] <trenchfoot> 13While Stranger handles important Council business and associated pre-meeting work, the Unfettered Xia Lan has something of her own to take care of. Namely: where's the Green Apples barracks?
15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> So, he'll need a majority vote, and can presumably count on Xia Lan. Pellicia is his closest ally on the Council, and has nominal authority over law enforcement. If Stranger can adequately frame this as a centering of power within the Council and against the Guild, he can pull her and her allies on board. The counfounding factor... is him. To wit, the principal threat to Stranger getting reforms through is the fear that it's a play to center power not in the Council but in Stranger.
[22:03] <Crion_> 14The problem, of course, is that they're not particularly wrong.
[22:05] <Crion_> 14He can argue that the Office of the Judiciary answers to the Emissary of Nexus -- all five of them -- but no one who has paid the slightest bit of attention to the process is going to believe Keldar had as much to do with the courts' resurgance as he did.
15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan knows that the Green Apples who bunk with the company keep their barracks in Bastion district, along the waterfront where they can keep private docks, like every big mercenary company in the city.
[22:06] <Crion_> 14So he needs to both give assurances and give up actual power. We're looking for five votes; Xia Lan is one. Has a new Evening Master been selected?
[22:06] <trenchfoot> 13Okay, followup question: where is Tsuka's barracks?
[22:07] <trenchfoot> 13Whoops, misread the waterfront thing. So! Off to the Bastion district it is. Back in time for any big votes.
15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka bunks with the cadets he's in charge of. His request. Apparently that's how he was trained. The sapling companies bunk at the back, past a forest of catcalls and whispers.
[22:11] <Crion_> 14The sell to Pellicia is easy enough. A strong judiciary means less work for her people, both coming and going. She also happens to personally like Stranger, Keldar, and some of the rest of the Circle, so there's that to draw on. What Stranger cannot do, however, is ask Pellicia to support him or speak on his behalf. In fact, if at all possible, it would be ideal not to be seen meeting 
[22:11] <Crion_> 14with her at all -- or if so, just long enough to pass off a Codex page.
[22:11] <Crion_> 14Even their allies on the Council think her a sop for the new Emissary.
[22:12] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim begins several Works. He does so by beginning a schedule, accompanied at all times by the Twice-Refined Princess, of course. First, from the moment he leaves the hideout shortly past dawn, he meets with any man, woman, or child of Nexus at a small shopfront he has begun keeping for this purpose.
[22:13] <Crion_> 14The strategy for the rest of them, then, is to sell this Council as a measure to oppose the Guild, and also one fully constrained by the rule of law -- even the appointment of the new Chief Judge was done fully legally, under currently-existing Civilities. The unsaid implication of this, then, is that such a structure could be taken away from the Emissary of Nexus by completely legal 
[22:13] <Crion_> 14means, and that the judiciary would respect this.
[22:13] <mattbaby> 5 This is his clinic; it maintains office hours from breakfast to lunch daily. Those who can pay are invited to do so; those who can pay well are invited to do so. Those who cannot pay are invited to say a prayer on Xu Sim's behalf.
15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> A new Evening Master has yet to be selected. There are currently eight seats on the Council. You need a simple majority to pass something.
[22:15] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim lunches with those notables of Nexus who, for whatever reason, seek him out as Emissary and not merely miracle-worker or doctor.
[22:15] <Crion_> 14Astrologer Kratz should be a somewhat easy sell, given how close she's become to the Circle by circumstance. Stranger probably won't even need to invoke Bubo, but he will if he needs to.
15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> What does Xia Lan do when word comes up from the back that Tsuka's in the middle of some really tough exercises right now?
[22:17] <mattbaby> 5 Past lunch, Xu Sim retires to his study and workshop; he sups with the other members of the Circle whenever possible. And he has begun a variety of Works, at any given moment one or several of which are in various states of assembly, brewing, or so forth in the hideout's canteen or, in one notable case, on the roof underneath a heavy tan canvas.
[22:18] <Crion_> 14Udelph, the Doctor, likely doesn't care for Stranger much as a person, but he should at least respect the nature of what Stranger has done: taken an institution formerly controlled by the Guild, cleansed it, and elevated it to a useful position. If he can be convinced that the healed organ works for the benefit of Nexus, he will likely approve.
15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Which of Xu Sim's projects would be most publicly visible to his neighbors in Floodwater? Which of his works are they most likely gossiping about?
[22:18] <Crion_> 14Midday Husband Hayle...
[22:19] <Crion_> 14Well, that's going to be the real conversation.
[22:19] <mattbaby> 5 At night, Xu Sim borrows the audient brush to begin recording his notes for posterity. Whatever he produces, he does not yet deign to share.
[22:20] <Crion_> 14Hayle will expect Stranger to secure as many votes as possible before approaching him, in hopes of using leverage to force Hayle to support the course of action Stranger wishes him to support. And that's still something entirely within Stranger's purview, diplomatically.
[22:20] <mattbaby> 5 The most visible of Xu Sim's projects, at first, is an unusual-looking mangonel, constructed from steel, young timber, and ropes that come out of Xu Sim's workshop a different color than he can be seen carrying them in.
[22:20] <trenchfoot> 13Oh, no! Really tough ones? "Someone should really check in on him then... actually, I'm pretty skilled myself! I've had a lot of training..." 13She winks saucily at whatever obstacle is in between her and the conversation she needs to have. It's utterly transparent, but in her experience, people are still dumb enough to fall for it.
[22:20] <Crion_> 14But he'll flip the script a bit. Even before Pellicia, Stranger-Visits-Heaven will call on Midday Husband Hayle first.
[22:21] <mattbaby> 5 The unusual thing about the mangonel is the basket, which normally would hold a perfectly ordinary stone or perhaps a clay pot full of firedust or the like. Perhaps a particularly cruel warlord would fill it with the skulls of his enemies or somesuch. But the basket of this mangonel is quite different; it bears an unusual, almost corkscrew-like attachment.
15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The guy running interference for Tsuka totally falls for it.
[22:24] <trenchfoot> 13Like I said. Dumb enough to fall for it.
15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> One afternoon, while Xu Sim is working, an old man comes up to him with a basket covered with cloth. "One of the ladies baked you something. Asked me to deliver it to you. You hungry?"
15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger has no trouble getting a meeting with Hayle. They'll take tea in Hayle's office, at the top of the Temple of Calming Winds, the city's mortuary and seat of the medical civil service.
[22:27] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim looks at the man. "How very kind of them, and you. Of course I'm always a little hungry," 5 he adds, pulling back the cloth to take a look.
15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> These are warm, fresh sweet rolls.
[22:28] <Crion_> 14Excellent. Stranger girds himself for a thrashing.
[22:28] <trenchfoot> 13Please never say "girds" ever again.
15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan makes her way back to where Tsuka is hard at work... reading a book quietly in his bunk.
[22:29] <Crion_> 14...He presents himself as usual, in common robes, having referred any and all commoners who stop him in the street to the Judges of Nexus by the broken straw method. He simply states his name, smiles, and waits.
[22:29] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan, sarcastically: "Tough exercises, indeed."
[22:29] <Crion_> 14Hayle is going to suspect he's being humble on purpose as a ruse, but that's preferable to being an asshole on purpose.
[22:30] <mattbaby> 5 How generous! Xu Sim will help himself to one, and offer the old man a bite as well.
15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle comes down to greet Stranger personally, and walk him up the steps of the cool, airy temple to his office, where a tea service awaits. "I'm pleased to hear from you. I understand you're settling into your appointment quite well."
15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man will take it. "Quite a piece of engineering you've got here."
15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka drops his book but, to his credit, does not fall out of bed as well. "Xia Lan!"
[22:32] <Crion_> 14Stranger smiles. "It has suited me better than I thought it might. I brought a kettle of my own, if you'd prefer. It's specially warded."
[22:32] <Crion_> 14He has the Lotus-Blossom Kettle with him.
[22:33] <Crion_> 14Should Hayle wish it, he'll surrender it to examination.
[22:33] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Hey," 13much nicer this time, because wow that was maybe a little harsh if that's how he reacted. "Sorry. Still, though."
15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I think we're above poisoning each other, don't you? But if it eases your mind, that will ease mine."
[22:34] <mattbaby> "Thank you," 5 he observes, tearing off a chunk of it and nibbling away. "It could throw a normal stone several hundred yalms. But wait until you see the stones Xu Sim shall throw with it!" 5 He smiles, a little savagely, taking another bite of the sweet roll. "Cethleann and her armies will rue the day."
15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man: "I wouldn't want to be on the far side of the field from this, that much is certain." He holds a hand up to Stranger in greeting. "Call me Selin."
[22:35] <trenchfoot> "...what's the matter, Tsuka? I haven't seen more than a few minutes of you since music night - " 13which is what she politely refers to the duel as, in mixed company - "and it's all been really tough training. Guy at the front said the same thing today. So what's really up?"
[22:35] <Crion_> 14Stranger, still smiling: "The kettle isn't about harm. It's about agency."
[22:35] <Crion_> "A friend taught me that."
15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "A wise friend." He'll make use of the kettle without further objection. "How can I be of service, Emissary?"
[22:36] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim blinks and pauses for a moment, bows, and only then takes the old man's hand."
15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I really have been busy." There's a pause where he looks at her searchingly.
15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Whatever he sees makes him look away. "...mostly."
[22:38] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "You've alluded to the reason that I'm here already. I am here in my office, so to speak, as an Emissary of Nexus. I come to discuss the budget, and the principles behind it."
[22:38] <mattbaby> "Stranger-Visits-Heaven told me your name, Selin. I am honored to meet you."
[22:39] <Crion_> 14He'll sip his tea. What sort is it?
[22:39] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "I know you've been busy. Heck, I've been busy, too. I've got a Council meeting after this, actually. But -- what do you mean 'mostly'?"
15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "There's a man who won't speak highly of you unless he means it. I'm honored likewise. You've been doing wonderful work these last few weeks. Bold work, too."
[22:41] <mattbaby> "Thank you, Selin," 5 replies the doctor. "It's been piling up since the honey-maze plague was going around."
15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The words come for Tsuka with difficulty. "I don't know what to say. After the tomb, and then the music... I thought it'd be best if I worked out here for a while. Do you need help with something?"
[22:48] <mattbaby> 5 He pauses, stammering for a second. "Ah, where are my manners? Why don't we go inside?"
15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's drinking Forest Greenleaf. A coincidence of taste, or careful preparation? Who can say. Hayle says, "Of course. This is a matter for all of us, with the war imminent."
[22:49] <Crion_> 14Ah.
15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're very kind." Selin will follow Xu Sim in.
[22:52] <mattbaby> "Ah." 5 Xu Sim hesitates. He's not used to entertaining. What would Stranger do? "Some, ah, tea?"
[22:52] <Crion_> 14He nods. "It is. Though there is another matter of business to discuss first. You're aware, of course, of the manse that the other members of the Emissary have procured. The active manse. Which we are currently working on turning into a weapon for Nexus. Xu Sim, the Arsenic Handshake, has material requests that he's asked me to forward." 14Stranger removes a roll of parchment from 
[22:52] <Crion_> 14his robe and hands it to Hayle. "This will be his ask."
15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Tea would be lovely, thank you."
[22:54] <Crion_> 14Once Hayle has opened it, mildly: "Too bad about the Evening Master. He'd have had thoughts about the rates."
[22:54] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "...I don't. I can leave, if you'd prefer, but maybe we should just... talk?"
15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle takes the parchment. "You'll get no objections from me on any of this. The iron, even the bad iron, may be hotly contested, especially if your colleague is keen to conscript the entire city. But my office has no especial claim to it."
[22:55] <trenchfoot> "Avoiding eachother didn't really help much, if I'm being honest. I mean, I got a bunch of stuff done planning for a concert but I probably would've gotten that out of the way anyway."
15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, too quickly: "You can stay."
[22:55] <Crion_> 14Stranger nods. "Of course. This is just prior notice on another issue that will come before the Council."
15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "I, uh... what do you want to talk about?"
[22:55] <Crion_> 14The tea is good.
15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle sips his tea. "What can I do for you?"
[22:56] <Crion_> 14He puts down the cup. "The real reason I've come here is to seek your vote for permanent increases to the funding and purview of the Office of the Judiciary."
[22:57] <Crion_> "In line with the ways I've used prospective Emissary budgeting to improve it."
15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah," says Hayle over the rim of his cup.
[22:58] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim grabs one of Stranger's sets and lowers a kettle toward the hearth. "Should go well with these nice cakes you've brought over. Have you met the Twice-Refined Princess?" 5 Yip! Yap!
15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Only in passing. Very well-behaved."
[23:01] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim chuckles as he pours out the tea and gestures to the common table, before sitting himself.
15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin will join him. "That was quite some trick you pulled off with the plague. Took brains, sure, but it was courage that saw you to the end. Commendable. Very commendable."
[23:05] <mattbaby> "To be honest with you, Selin, it didn't feel that way at the time," 5 says Xu Sim, delicately.
[23:06] <trenchfoot> 13Heh. "Well. I was hoping to talk about..." 13She falters. "Uh." 13Wow, she's normally on the other end of these and they're way more one-sided. Almost as a non sequitur: "...I've really enjoyed spending time with you." 13She's blushing a little bit. "And, uh, I want that to continue? And I hope you do too? And I was hoping we could maybe talk about just, you know, what you've been up to, what I've been up to," 
[23:06] <trenchfoot> 13She coughs. "Anyway. Uh. We sort of, know who eachother is, right, and, I mean, I like you, and..." 13High-pitched: "And do you maybe want to like get dinner after the Council meeting or something?" 13The tips of her ears are beet-red.
15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Real bravery seldom does."
15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, almost immediately: "Yes."
15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Then, a moment later. "Wait. No. I can't. I'm sorry."
15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't."
[23:07] <trenchfoot> 13She deflates. "Oh."
15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I really like you. I really, really like you."
15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "But..."
15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "...you're my boss."
[23:07] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "...what?"
[23:08] <mattbaby> "No, I mean, really - did you hear about the second Xu Sim? What the Dragonlord did to me - er, him?"
15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm a member of the city militia. I answer to the Council. You can legally order me around. You can promote or dismiss me. You can reach down past Khelendros and put me in, put me in jail. Or you can put me on sweet do-nothing details to keep me safe."
[23:10] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "I understood you, above all the others in our voting bloc, would have...concerns about what's been happening down at the Office of the Judiciary. So I came to you first. To put it simply and frankly, you don't trust my Circle. I won't ask you to confirm or deny it -- you don't need to, and I'm not looking to castigate anyone for it. You have legitimate reasons. You believe, 
[23:10] <Crion_> I suspect, that the enforcement arm of the Council has been outsourced to a bunch of foreigners who don't have skin in the game. Even Keldar, adorable as he is puffing himself up about this Civility and that Dogma, is now part of a political ecosystem that is much larger than the city. He is from here, but his powers, they are not. And the rest of us...well, you don't know what to think 
[23:10] <Crion_> about us."
15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I can't... I can't get close to you and do this job. And people need me here."
[23:13] <Crion_> "You are right, but you are also wrong. When do foreigners become neighbors? I'll answer my own question: when they're forced to invest themselves in their homes. You have, no doubt, paid attention to our doings down in Floodwater. I suspect our 'hideout' there is no longer very hidden. Good. You have noticed the spreading allure of young Xia Lan across the city. Dismiss her as a bed 
[23:13] <Crion_> fantasy at your peril. She can sway hearts and minds now -- and she is not immune to the demands they place on her. Keldar and Xu Sim even now labor to bring an ancient manse on line to serve the city. And I have invested significant time and energy -- along with trust and respect -- in the judiciary."
[23:14] <Crion_> "Say these were part of some malicious scheme to take control of the Council and steal its power. Does this make us any less a part of this community now? I think not."
[23:14] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "That is just about the most adorable and honest thing you could have said to turn me down for a date. Consider me appropriately swooning," 13she says, gears turning. "So! We have a problem in need of solutions."
[23:15] <Crion_> "In the best reading, we have become your neighbors. In the worst, we have given you ways to rob us while we sleep."
[23:15] <trenchfoot> "Is this the best place for you to help people? Honest question, no judgements. Whatever answer, we can work with it."
15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka blinks too many times. "I..." Deep breath, deep breath. "I think it is. I'm a soldier. That's what I was taught. I don't really know how to do anything else."
[23:17] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Not, strictly speaking, an answer! People can learn all kinds of things when pressed - and you have the most important trait I'd be looking for, a good, honest head on your shoulders." 13Her vaguely menacing, catlike expression softens. "There is an open position on the Council."
15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I take your point, and believe me I recognize and value the work you and your cohort are doing to better the city. But the investments you describe are numinous. Were you to leave or to forsake the city, you would abandon great works and deep feeling. But you could do it."
15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What? On the Council?"
[23:18] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "That's correct," 13she says, patiently.
15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Evening Master, right?"
[23:19] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Two points!"
15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Isn't that... an accountant's job?"
[23:21] <mattbaby> "That's what the Dragonlord wants to do, to me! It's the second time he's had the chance to do it. And all I could do was blubber to save my own skin. I'm no great warrior, but... it's like I said (the other me), it was a pretty pathetic sight."
[23:23] <mattbaby> "And the Dragonlord's not the only one. There was those assassins, and then the huge wolf. It's been a rough couple of weeks for the great courage of Xu Sim, whose first move in a fight is always to try to hide."
15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I hear you. It's infuriating to feel yourself measured and found wanting. But let me see if I understand this correctly."
15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nessun Dorma, the Rock of Kimauga, one of the most feared battle commanders in the Direction, personally wants you dead. You're saying he's had the chance, all but taken it, and you live in fear of him doing so, knowing you couldn't match him."
15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you're saying that, after that, you went and met him again."
15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "And this is evidence of your cowardice?"
[23:25] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim stuffs another bite of the sweetroll in his mouth to gain time to think of a counterargument.
[23:28] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Bzzt! All prior points are now forfeit. Please return them to the First Bank of Xia Lan, and you are now considerably in debt." 13Her eyes have lit up and she is now vaguely unsettlingly interested in this idea. "No, an accountant is exactly what the last Evening Master was, and that went excruciatingly poorly even prior to his untimely demise. What we need is - someone more hands-on."
[23:28] <trenchfoot> 13She's pacing now. "You'll need an assistant of course, for the more paperwork-related duties, but that can be arranged fairly simply. In effect, the office is an office of - justice. Of fairness. Of ensuring access to all parties to everything of import - frankly, the city would be worse-off without you!"
[23:29] <mattbaby> "Well, maybe the foolishness of fools is deceit," 5 Xu Sim suggests.
[23:29] <Crion_> 14Stranger shakes his head. "Even putting present circumstances aside, no, I don't think we could. The Chosen of the Sun are, for all our other faults -- and there are many! -- builders. That was what was so dangerous about us, after all. We take pride in what we make, and we seek to promulgate it. There are many things to worry about when it comes to our involvement as the Emissaries 
[23:29] <Crion_> of Nexus; it's not a role I wanted, after all. But running off somewhere to do something else, rather than finish what we started? No, that's not a concern."
[23:30] <Crion_> "We're in this to the end, and we're rooted in place. That's how we like it. That's how they killed us all the last time."
15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka goes a bit glassy-eyed seeing Xia Lan get so passionate about this. But after she finishes talking he blinks out of it. "Hey!"
[23:30] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Hm?"
15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is exactly what I mean! You're talking about giving me a giant promotion because you- because we- no!!"
15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You don't understand. Where I'm from, things like this are how everything happens. First it's who's your mother, until it's who's your wife, until it's who are your daughters."
15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "It doesn't matter how skilled you are, or how hard you work, or whether you're brave or cruel or selfish."
15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But nobody knows that about me here. Nobody knows anything about me here. I can just... I can just work hard, and do the right thing, and see what happens."
15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "It might fail, because, no offense to you, Councilor, but this city's a huge, terrible joke."
15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I can do it."
[23:40] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim sighs. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Is that why you came? To talk to me about this? You're not, I don't know, embarrassed at my poor showing?"
15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I think that the foolishness of fools is folly. No more, no less. But I'm not here to debate you into believing more of yourself. Can't be done. If you are a fool, I can't put sense in your brain. If there's something else going on, that's your test to master."
15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> He smiles. "I just thought you'd be hungry, is all."
[23:41] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "...oh." 13She deflates again. "Uh." 13She tries again: "...I stand by what I said. I think you'd be a perfect fit. But I - well, understand is strong. That's not how my family worked, growing up. But I respect your decision." 13Does he have a chair or another bed in his quarters for her to sit on? She'll sit on that, if it's there, or lean against a wall facing him if not. A change of subject: "...do you really 
[23:41] <trenchfoot> think that about the role of the council?"
15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why would I be embarrassed at your poor showing?"
[23:42] <Crion_> 14Stranger picks up his teacup again. "We're here to stay. And, dare I say it, we're a bit more reliable than the second coming of the previous officeholder."
15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> There's plenty of bunks for Xia Lan to sit on if she doesn't want to sit on Tsuka's. "Do I really think what?"
15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle wince-laughs. "Ha. On that, Emissary, I agree entirely."
[23:44] <Crion_> 14He sips. "And to be brutally honest, setting up a working infrastructure like these courts makes it easier for the Council to control the Emissary's judgment, not harder. If you play your pieces correctly, that will remain even if we're kicked to the curb."
[23:45] <mattbaby> "Ah, well, Stranger told me about who you really are. It's part of why I haven't come to see you yet, to ask you about your own work on the - sewers? It was the sewers, right?"
[23:46] <trenchfoot> 13She wants to face him, though at this point she's having a hard time meeting his eyes for some reason. "Do you think the Council gathers for every troop movement?"
15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "May I divert the topic for a moment? You speak of building, and the work you do is evident, even now. But there remains in certain quarters the question of what you're building towards. So I'd like to ask: what is your vision for Nexus? Where do you see the city five years or ten years from now? Where do you hope to see it, at any rate? Fate being something even the Sun can't command."
15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't know. I assume Councilor Pellicia does most of that herself. But you're not just a Councilor. You're the Emissary. The Emissary can do whatever--" his voice gets weak. "14whatever she likes"
15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin's silent for a time, drinking his tea. "And the canals, yes."
[23:49] <Crion_> 14Stranger: "In the highest flights of fantasy, a Chosen of the Sun hears that question and immediately says, 'a power to challenge the Realm.' That Chosen is a fool, though it's hard to fault their enthusiasm. I see Nexus self-sufficient and more just -- while still wholly ruled by its traditional Dogmas and Civilities. I see provisional labor agreements with outlying lands, 
[23:49] <Crion_> specifically-negotiated pacts of mutual defense, and a growing civil service. I see the bureaucracy of Nexus crowding out the Guild of Nexus not through edict or violence, but through making the Guild obsolete, and making profits easier to find elsewhere."
[23:49] <mattbaby> 5 A bit of an awkward moment there. "Ah, and how is that going? Can I be of assistance?"
[23:50] <Crion_> "And, I should let you know, I see a Highland and a Thorns, and perhaps a Lookshy, who don't want to let that happen."
[23:51] <Crion_> 14He stirs his tea. "I will not pretend these Emissaries think our alliances here are permanent, or even suitably temporary."
15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You're very kind, but the work is largely humble labor. Your talent better serves the people with your own projects."
15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is it you'd like to discuss with me?"
15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Of those three, which do you see as the greatest threat to a free and just Nexus?"
[23:54] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim dips the roll into the tea while formulating his thought. "Perhaps there are things I could teach you, or ways I could help you - and there are ways you could help - teach - me."
[23:55] <Crion_> 14Stranger, without hesitation: "Highland, then Thorns, then a long drop, and then Lookshy."
15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You wish to master the Crane style."
15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "That matches my own sense of things."
[23:55] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "The Emissary serves at the will of the people. How'd'you think the last one lost the gig?" 13Shrug. "Okay, it was mostly the roasting fellow councillors alive during meetings thing. But. We serve the Civilities." 13She looks uncomfortable. "I don't think I'd be allowed to meddle with... the sorts of things you're worried about. There are other councilors for that."
[23:56] <mattbaby> "The way I've been trying to make all this work... hasn't been working," 5 concedes the sorceror.
[23:56] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it. I don't think I'm supposed to like it, inasmuch I'm allowed to have any feelings about it at all. But them's the rules."
15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What stops you from meddling with them? It's not just about pulling rank. A word here, a wink there... how much of what the Council does even happens in Council meetings? How much of it is backroom politics and dealmaking before anyone touches a gavel?"
15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Then: "Aaaaaargh."
[23:58] <Crion_> 14The white-haired man grimaces. "All the things I've been saying about my kind...about dedication and roots. Mori Nogare is one of us, and he has those things. Stronger and purer than I do -- but that's not necessarily a good thing. It's a fanatical thing. And he will never feel that way about Nexus. We all came from somewhere else, and found ourselves in Nexus. He comes from 
[23:58] <Crion_> Highland. He comes to make Nexus Highland."
[23:59] <Crion_> "I came from a fishing village."
[23:59] <Crion_> "There is ample evidence I have no interest of making this city a fishing village."
[00:00] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan agrees, minus the vocalization. "This kinda integrity is exactly why I thought you'd be perfect for the Council role."
15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, head in hands: "What do we do?"
15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I really, really like you."
[00:04] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "I really, really like you too. So then, I have a question." 13She looks him square in the eye. "Do you trust me?"
15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yes."
[00:06] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "What do you want me to swear on? No sense doing this half-hearted."
15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin sits back, regarding Xu Sim in silence for a while.
15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat paws up. "Master!"
15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin starts.
15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mhaka?"
[00:09] <mattbaby> "You've met," 5 Xu Sim observes.
[00:15] <Crion_> 14He pours himself another cup of tea. "I am accountable. My people are accountable. You know where and how to find me. And if I violate the Dogmas and Civilities of Nexus, you know that Keldar will kill me. These courts are necessary both so that this city's people can achieve justice when they petition their Council, and so that the Emissaries of Nexus can take a broader view of 
[00:15] <Crion_> the real threats. Do I have your vote, Midday Husband?"
15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm nobody's master," says Selin both to Xu Sim and to Mhaka. "I haven't been in a long time," he adds, more to the former than the latter.
15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka meows, a sound preserved with remarkable fidelity in the clockwork, and then pads away.
[00:16] <trenchfoot> 13If Tsuka doesn't move, or seems otherwise stunned: "Trust me, then. Trust me that - we both want what's best for the people of Nexus. I know what you're capable of. I know what you can and cannot handle. I won't get you killed, I won't coddle you, and together we can work for the people - and I'm not your superior officer. Just another concerned citizen, who happens to have a louder voice."
[00:20] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim sucks in air through his teeth, and nods.
15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle closes his eyes and thinks for a time.
15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally: "...you do."
15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka closes his eyes, clenches his fists, and blurts out, "Okay."
[00:26] <Crion_> 14Stranger doesn't nod or smirk or make any other affirmative move; he simply continues to sip his tea and enjoy the view, for so long as Hayle will have him. Make small talk, as well.
15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Tell me this."
[00:27] <trenchfoot> 13She's about to continue into further benefits, but: "...okay?"
15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is the greatest good?"
15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...dinner sounds nice."
15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everybody's going to talk about us, you know."
[00:29] <Crion_> 14Stranger's been told by his partner that this is a benefit of the arrangement.
[00:30] <trenchfoot> 13She shrugs. "I don't care about them." 13She rattles off a nearby restaurant - fancy, and with excellent seafood - "Seven? I - I don't know how much of your serious training was avoiding me and how much was like. You know." 13Ruddy ears again.
15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seven is good."
[00:31] <trenchfoot> 13A warm smile, then: "I'll see you at 7. Wish me luck - big day at the Council ahead."
[00:31] <mattbaby> 5 Xu Sim sighs. "The greatest good... is knowledge. Curiosity. It's the foundation of anything, everything. For the gods, man, anything. That's the distinction from which everything else derives. So it must be the greatest good."
15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Good luck! And, uh... thanks for kicking the door down."
15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Hmmmmm."
[00:35] <trenchfoot> 13Xia Lan: "Aha. Ha. Hopefully if we ever have to have a serious talk again it'll be less... drastic."
15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I disagree completely. We'll start tomorrow morning, before breakfast."
[00:35] <trenchfoot> "Still. You're welcome." 13She blows a kiss and leaves.
[00:36] <mattbaby> "Sifu." 5 Xu Sim nods.
15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka slumps back onto his bed, grinning like the idiot he probably is.
15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin rises. "Thank you for the tea, and the company. Give your friends my regards. And Mhaka favors salt cod."
[00:37] <Crion_> 14When Stranger finally leaves Hayle's side, he's reclaimed his teapot and changed the disposition of his most intransigent opponent on this side of the Council divide. And he did it while telling the truth -- not even the massaged, half-omitted truth. He said real things, with real feeling, and they were sufficient.
[00:37] <Crion_> 14That feels good.
[00:37] <Crion_> 14...Mori Nogare's going to know, sooner rather than later. If he doesn't already.
[00:37] <mattbaby> "Thank you for the sweet rolls. I will see you tomorrow, before breakfast."
15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Rising up to the challenge of a rival