15[20:07] The circle stands on the precipice of an ancient gate, opened with the utterance of an ancient name. The musty darkness deep below Nexus yields to a dazzling and humid jungle - the mythical Isle of Thran, ordinarily visible only at Calibration in the furthest corner of the Dreaming Sea. [20:08] 14There's nothing for it but to step through, then. Stranger Visits Heaven will assume the risk and the honors. [20:08] 14Apparently he built this thing, after all. At some point. [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll go through second if not first - marching order's a big deal in his line of work. [20:10] 14The Ambassador gives the Tiger of Nexus a very wide berth, but when he's through she'll follow her mate. [20:10] 13Xia Lan keeps both hands on her weapons as she follows through -- who knows what awaits? 15[20:12] They bought themselves a single night to find some means to keep the Mask of Winters at bay. Stranger goes, and then Keldar, then the Ambassador, Xia Lan, Xu Sim, and the Scion of the Sevenfold. Selin lingers in the doorway but doesn't follow. [20:12] 5Xu Sim takes a deep breath in Nexus and holds it until he's through the portal. He'll wait a moment before taking another. [20:14] 14Stranger will stand on the other side of the threshold as everyone files past, then nod to Selin before turning back to the jungle. 15[20:17] The solars and their partners step into a heat so thick and heavy it stifles the breath. On this side, the gate is all but invisible beneath a tangle of vines and dessicated insect nests - only the darkness of old Hollow lingers, a black eyesore in the blazing sunlight. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Phew. Good thing Keldar's essence makes his armor feel as light and breezy as a loose shirt. [20:20] 14Stranger shakes out his robes idly, while the Ambassador's sleek and shiny black gown and heels ripple and slithers across her skin, reforming into a sleeveless blouse, tight slacks and functional boots. [20:21] 13Oof. The thing about the deserts was that it's a dry heat. This is... well, at least she's dressed light. [20:21] 14Silver, not black, that is to say. Not much to do about the color. [20:22] "Hot as the least fun parts of the East." 14She glances over at Stranger. "You always take me to such nice places, darling." 15[20:24] The explorers venture deeper, taking in the sights as they go. The first thing they notice is that the rainforest, while teeming with plant life, is eerily silent. No birds, nor beasts, nor bugs catch the eye or ear. They find a path of sorts, a thin spot in the underbrush where it's comparatively easier to move, and it leads them into a partial clearing. Heat and light pour down from 15[20:24] the sky, but a glance upward to gauge the position of the sun in the sky finds nothing. It's not there. [20:24] 14Stranger simply looks at her solemnly and opens the parasol over her head to shade her from the Sun. 15[20:24] Some of them look down and see that they leave no footprints, and cast no shadow. [20:24] 5Xu Sim looks around and releases his breath audibly. Can't be too careful. [20:24] 14Hmm. Perhaps not the Sun, then. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns to himself. "How much of this is fake? Xu Sim, we in an illusion or something?" 15[20:25] Seven: "Something's not right." [20:25] 5Xu Sim: "It's not like I've been here before," 5he natters back. [20:25] 14The Ambassador: "What is this? Wyld? It can't be creation. There's no...vibrance." [20:25] 14Stranger: "Not Wyld. Not any Wyld I've ever seen, at least." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12If Keldar plucks a leap from a nearby branch, or scrapes at the soil with a boot, or whatever, can he retrieve material? Leave marks? [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12a leaf* [20:26] "No, I suspect this is something much..." 14His eyes find Xu Sim. "...more intricate." 15[20:29] Keldar plucks a leaf, and it withers to dust in his hands while a new one rapidly grows in its place before his eyes. He scrapes the soil, leaving a divot in the earth that, again, fills back in as he watches. [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "Are we dead? No footprints, no shadow, can't interact with the world...?" [20:30] 13No Sun. [20:30] 14He'd almost said 'something stranger.' But naming puns aside, this is not something Stranger. It's something Xu Sim. [20:32] "Power, overwhelming," 5is the first thing Xu Sim notes. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, we can interact, but it's filling itself back in. It's gotta be magic, right? Like a picture someone drew that we're walking around in." [20:33] 5Xu Sim: "The essence of this demesne is frozen in time, crystallized. Makes sense for a place that appears in Creation once a year." [20:33] 14Stranger: "Then are we...Elsewhere?" [20:33] 13Xia Lan: "Is it safe for us to be here?" [20:34] 5Xu Sim: "The air is thicker with sorcery than humidity. Which is also controlled by the sorcery, along with the light, temperature, everything." [20:34] 14The Ambassador: "Once a year -- Calibration?" 15[20:35] Seven offers a weak laugh to Xia Lan. She's paler than usual, and so sheened with sweat that her hair is already matted. [20:35] 13Oh, shoot. Faux pas. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Does that mean we can't rob it? If we try to bring something back with us, does it just vanish and pop up back here?" [20:36] 13...sort of forgot about that... [20:36] 14The Sun's real enough for her, at least, but Stranger is pretty sure it's purely the aesthetic that counts. [20:36] 14The door didn't close behind us, did it? We could test our ability to pass things through it right now. [20:37] 14Better to know now if this is a fool's errand, or at least one with some complications, than find out running away from some guardians or what-have-you. [20:38] 14Meanwhile, Ambassador will test whether she can still shift into a swan and, if so, whether and where she can fly. [20:38] 14Presumably this place is bounded, and presumably it would be very bad to cross those bounds anywhere but the door through which they entered. 15[20:39] Anything natural you try to take vanishes from your hand or bag before you even start back towards the gate. Where is the Ambassador flying? [20:39] 13Hm. That's going to be problematic if we want to get any kind of assistance here. [20:39] 14Thirty yalms straight up to begin with, and then she'll tenatively circle and get her bearings assuming something doesn't go horribly wrong. [20:41] 14Her body shudders and feathers whirl around her as bone and organs change and reform; wings furl around the shifting body, then spread triumphantly as the dagger and dress fall to the ground. Stranger retrieves them. [20:43] *14Her body shudders and feathers whirl around her as bone and organs change and reform; wings furl around the shifting body, then spread triumphantly, a great swan ascending into the sky, moonsilver girding her beak and gilding her flanks. [20:48] "I don't think you could take any of this with you," 5he says, gesturing to the plants and soil. "But I doubt Thran is just an overheated greenhouse." [20:48] "Let's proceed," 5he suggests. 15[20:48] The Ambassador ascends, rising through the thick but birdless treeline until she breaks the canopy. Up here, the sky is a uniform hazy blue. She struggles to gain much altitude once she's in the open air - she feels heavier and heavier the higher she goes, and it's a struggle to make 20 yalms, let alone 30. The highest she can comfortably fly is to skim just over the tallest trees, 15[20:48] but that's still high enough to see the towers. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm just sayin', you better be prepared to detach and transport any superweapon we trip over." 12He does keep moving, ready to draw sword and shield should something look at the Circle funny. 15[20:49] There are two - one close by, among a thicket of autumn-colored trees and atop what seems to be a small plateau or mesa. It wouldn't take long to reach. The other stretches down into the forest and up into the sky, with no visible top or bottom, a delicate silver spiral in the far distance. [20:51] 14Stranger tenses when she struggles, and doesn't ease up until she's winging in a stable circle above them. She honks twice, the most graceful honk you can imagine hearing from a swan, and then swoops back down. She lands, is engulfed in feathers again, and emerges the Ambassador once more. "Something is preventing me from flying any real distance above the treeline. But I did get [20:51] high enough to see two towers in the distance -- one near, and one far." 14She describes them. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scratches at his chin with an armored thumb. "Which direction's each?" [20:52] 5Xu Sim: "Let's start with the nearer of the two. We have ways of traveling expeditiously, should needs must." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "If the whole place is like this, even the skies, I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. Closer's the better." [20:53] 14When she's done, Stranger murmurs in her ear: "I didn't know you could keep the moonsilver on when you shifted." [20:53] "Manners around company, darling," 14she murmurs back. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alrighty - to the plateau. Stay frosty." 12He takes point, searching for traps as he goes. [20:54] 14He agrees with the emerging consensus, still eyeing Xu Sim. He's taken leadership of their little expedition for the moment. Interesting. [20:56] 5Xu Sim's demeanor is settling from his intense, analytical gaze to something more approximating a force of dimly-remembered habit. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Possibly it is a misuse of Terminus to hack through vines and bushes rather than oathbreakers, but Keldar's a practical man - and maybe he's imagining it, but it feels like obstacles grow back more slowly when it's orichalcum paring them down. Between that and smart pathfinding, Keldar's able to get the group to the base of the plateau in about half an hour. [21:01] 14This is one of the few times the Ambassador has found it more comfortable to walk through nature ('nature') than fly above it. It's an uncomfortable feeling, if not actually an imposition. When they reach the plateau, she looks to Stranger: "Should I fly up to take a look?" [21:01] 14Stranger looks to Xu Sim and Keldar. 15[21:02] The cliff of red rock beneath the red leaves is sheer and high, a difficult climb - but there are stable paths here, smooth stone, leading towards and around the mountain. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd be a good idea. Help us figure the best way up, too." [21:03] 5Xu Sim frowns and begins channeling the winds of magic. [21:03] 5Scratch that [21:03] 14The Ambassador waits for Stranger's nod, and then the swan is back, gaining altitude again slower than she should. How high is the plateau, compared to the tallest trees? Can she reach the top on the wing? [21:04] 5Xu Sim begins to call forth one of his dust devils, but pauses just as his hands reach the first position of the sorcerous mudra. "Wait." [21:04] "The mine. We go in through the mine. Where's the entrance..." [21:04] 14Stranger raises his hand to wave the Ambassador back down, but she's close enough to the ground to hear him still. [21:05] 14She returns, gladly. Flying here just feels off. [21:05] 13Xia Lan: "Are you all right, Ambassador?" [21:08] 14She grimaces. "Oh, I'm fine, dear -- it's all the rest of this that's off. The air, the wind -- or lack thereof -- and the light." 14She points at the air above the plateau, near where the second or third story of the tower would be if it were a normal building. "It's hard to see from here; you almost have to be flying to see how the light hits it. But there's a barrier around [21:08] the whole of this, mountain, tower, and all." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll try, like, tapping a fist against the side of the plateau. 15[21:09] Seems solid. [21:09] 5Xu Sim begins leading them towards the mine, humming some ancient tune for a moment. [21:09] 14Assuming the Codex still works here, Stranger uses it to say only to the Ambassador: [21:09] "My feet know the way, even if the rest of me does not," 5he explains. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, if Xu Sim remembers some secret entrance that'll save us the trouble of climbing a cliff. Keldar hurries to catch up with and flank the sorcerer, falling into reliable bodyguarding habits. [21:10] 14The Ambassador: [21:11] 14Stranger is content to follow Xu Sim here. Meanwhile, the Ambassador will slip up next to Xia Lan. "And how are you, dear? I heard you took quite the hit. Or hits." [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "I've been better," 13she offers. There's still a few bandages - one on her shoulder, a few on her legs, and probably around her ribs. "I'll have to take some time off at some point, but Xu Sim did a wonderful job taking the edge off." [21:13] "A talented man," 14she muses, "and secretive. Even to himself, if he's been keeping an island that even he didn't know about." [21:13] "Are you still with that boy?" [21:13] 5Xu Sim calls Seven of the Scionfold to accompany him on the opposite side from Keldar, reciting some half-recalled stanza as he does. "I stood up next to a mountain, and I chopped it down with the edge of my hand..."5 He abandons the meter- "ah, uh, I sent the spoilage into the rivers. Took a hundred years to clean it all up." 15[21:15] The path winds around rocks, Keldar and Seven following Xu Sim closely as he leads them on. Here the path hugs the mountainside, and it's here along a blank stone face that Xu Sim's feet stop. [21:16] 5And is this face as solid as it appears? [21:16] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka. And yes, he's been wonderful to me - he's out fighting now, or he was when we left. I hope he's safe." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll kneel and peer at the seam between the face and the floor, pace around to check both sides, and so on. [21:17] 5Xu Sim watches Keldar for a moment, then reaches back with his hand open-faced. "Avenikadhana!" 5he exclaims, before spanking the mountainside. [21:19] 14The Ambassador chuckles. "If there's one thing I've learned about the Blooded in standing both with and against them, it is that they're incredibly difficult to kill -- far out of proportion to whatever potential to power the shamans and sorcerors like to speak of. Especially when there's something important they're fighting for." [21:19] "But I'm sure I don't have to explain the...passion of a Fire Aspect to you," 14she says with a coy smile. 15[21:20] The ground shakes and the mountain bursts open along a hidden seam, spraying dust that dissipates almost instantly. The path is wide and tall enough for a yeddim, opening on a groaning darkness and a breeze that's almost painfully cold against their sweaty skin. Seven sighs audibly with relief. [21:20] 13Xia Lan's cheeks color as she stammers out, "That's - I mean, oh look at this--" [21:21] 14Before they all step in, Stranger will join Keldar in carefully examining the new path. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wh- eh." 12He's had the unpleasant experience of preparing to spit out some stray dust only to feel it vanish preemptively off this tongue. Now he's going to be dealing with somatic scratchy-throat for like an hour. [21:22] "Nothing to be ashamed of, dearest," 14the Ambassador says breezily as she steps forward towards the mine-mouth. "Just remember to take your leaf." 15[21:23] Stranger and Keldar comb the entrance carefully, finding no traps - but something glitters in the distant dark. Weaving back and forth to test the light they see lenses, dozens of them - embedded in the rough-hewn stone walls like gemstones, stuck in the corners behind spiderless webs. They wink silently against the flood of new light. [21:23] 14Stranger holds up a hand. "Now that's interesting." [21:23] 14To Keldar: "You see that?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Not sure what to make of it." [21:24] 14He beckons the sorcerer over and points the lenses out to him. [21:24] 13Xia Lan: "See what?" 13Her voice is blessedly even, and hopefully no one else heard her conversation with the Ambassador. [21:25] 14To Xia Lan: "Lenses, in the walls. Like the sort used in stargazing, perhaps -- dozens of them." [21:25] "Don't trouble yourself about it," 5Xu Sim suggests. [21:25] 14To Xu Sim: "If you're certain." [21:25] 14He'll be glad to let Xu Sim resume leading, however. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "In we go, then?" [21:26] "Yes," 5he strides forth. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Hup, [21:27] 14Keldar can set the marching order if he likes, but absent instruction Stranger and the Ambassador will bring up the rear, just in case. [21:28] 13Xia Lan keeps someone in between herself and the Ambassador if at all possible. For the time being. [21:30] 14The Ambassador, on their closed line: [21:31] 14Stranger: [21:32] 14The Ambassador: [21:32] 14Stranger: [21:33] 14The Ambassador: [21:33] "Eyes," 5the sorcerer mutters. "Out is through. Through the mine, through the plant, up the tower. Then, the crucible," 5he adds, by way of explanation. [21:35] 14Stranger takes this opportunity to leave the conversation hanging. "The 'plant?' Growing in here?" [21:35] 13Xia Lan: "The crucible?" [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "Hieh? You'll see it for yourself, in a moment. It's no living plant, it's more like one of the fabled factum-cathedrals, a place of energy. From the crucible, the lenses can show me everything." [21:39] "Quickly, quickly, quickly," 5he repeats, shooing them along. [21:41] 13Well, if you insist. [21:41] 14Back to the Ambassador as they're hurried along: 15[21:42] The group proceeds, following Xu-Sim past lens-flecked walls, chunks missing from the cold stone, and tiny metal knobs embedded in the ceiling every few yalms. There's no sound or sight of movement anywhere in these tunnels. Seven fills the silence with, "This place is dead. Dead-not-dead. There is no life here." [21:42] "Can there be death if nothing has lived here?" 5he waxes philosophically. 15[21:42] "Yes," answers Seven. [21:43] 14The Ambassador's voice is noncommital, but quieter in his head. 14He can tell that's the end of this conversation, at least for now. 15[21:45] The mine is cold and dark and indeed empty. Xu Sim takes them towards what anyone with good direction sense can tell is the center of the mountain, where the stone is smoother and more clearly worked, the walls etched yellow with the first Old Realm word Keldar ever learned - the word for 'caution'. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yo, that just says 'caution' over and over." [21:46] 13Xia Lan, drily: "This seems safe." 15[21:47] A high archway gives way to a chilly chamber of worked blue stone and two staircases that spiral up and away from each other into the ceiling above. [21:47] 14Stranger: "Caution is...not the worst word that could be repeated over and over on a wall. But it might be bottom ten." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just don't step anywhere Xu Sim and I haven't stepped first." [21:49] "Workers," 5Xu Sim points to the left stair, "Soldiers,"5 he points to the right. He chooses the left for now, but lets the others go as they may. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll take soldiers, cause c'mon. [21:49] 13Xia Lan unconsciously drifts to the right, unless someone pulls her the other way. [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "Wait, shouldn't we stick together?" [21:50] 14The Ambassador starts right, but seeing which stair Keldar chooses, glances over at Stranger. "If we're splitting up, I'll go soldier. I did fight a warstrider today." [21:51] 13Xu Sim's already made his choice, so I suppose that'd settle it for the rest. [21:51] 14The Ambassador follows Xu Sim. "Worker it is for me." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Haha, just kidding! Keldar may be Dawn Sergeant of Nexus, but that doesn't mean he doesn't work for a living. Specifically, by soldiering. [21:51] "We probably should, I suppose," 5he answers. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, let's stick close. I don't like how far those get up above us." [21:53] 14Stranger: "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life, they say. And that makes me a worker." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, by explanation: "I don't do this for free." 15[21:57] The group takes the left staircase, leaving the mine behind. Up here it's all seamless blue stone, corridors widening into chambers, with gently glowing sigils and pictograms in the walls and floor providing plenty of ambient light to see by. It's cool up here, and a steady breeze works its way through the passages. [21:57] 13Better than the outside, at least. 15[21:57] While there's no delineated brickwork, there are gaps, seams, and sockets in the walls, connected to nothing and opening on nothing. [21:57] 14The Ambassador is downright refreshed. Stranger just grimaces at the sensation of cold air on sweat. [22:03] "What a disappointment," 5he notes as they tread through the halls on teh way to the Crucible. "These holes are full of Essence," 5he observes, "But you'll hurt yourself if you try to stick a finger in them or something. Don't do that." [22:04] 14Stranger: "Noted." [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Why would I-- okay." 15[22:04] Seven: "...how badly does it hurt?" [22:05] 14The Ambassador arches an eyebrow at that. [22:05] 13Xia Lan does not gawp. To gawp would be unseemly, and also rude. But also, what the heck. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Can we use it?" [22:08] "It hurts like, I don't know, not very badly," 5he sticks his own hand in one of them. "Like-" [22:08] 14Ah-- [22:08] 13You-- [22:08] 5There's a slight ozone smell, and he whips his hand back and forth a couple times. "Not too badly, that much." [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "I'm - you just told us not to stick a finger in that, and then you put your hand in there to check how bad it hurts. What is wrong with you." [22:09] 14Stranger narrows his eyes. "Nothing is." [22:11] 14He sticks his hand in one as well, and grimaces at the unpleasant shocking sensation -- and, as he pulls his hand back, the feeling of respiration. "Touching it raw connects you to its power. And hurts a little." 15[22:11] Seven tries too. [22:11] 13She huffs. "Unbelievable." 15[22:11] "Ooh! Erm. Let's go." [22:12] 14Trading pain for power in a place like this doesn't seem just pragmatic; it seems like a rule of nature. [22:12] 13Quietly, to Seven: "Are you all right?" [22:12] 14The Ambassador, however, passes. 15[22:13] Seven nods. "That was an interesting experience. Though not one I'm keen to repeat." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thinks a moment, then puts his own palm over one of the essence vents. There's a ZZZZT noise as he shivers slightly. "Ow, haha." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You weren't kidding. Let's keep going." [22:14] 13Xia Lan: "I wouldn't recommend it. But, uh, I guess it worked out, so." [22:16] "Well, I hope we all learned something just now," 5he shrugs and beckons. [22:16] 14Stranger stares at the Essence. Yes, he did. [22:16] 13Xia Lan: "I learned not to stick my fingers into strange orifices. Which I'd already known." [22:17] 13Quiet, Ambassador. 15[22:17] The group advances, and finally begin to hear noise - a rhythmic clang of metal-on-metal. [22:18] 14She is smiling pleasantly in a different direction, and only quietly clears her throat. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar limbers his wrists as he approaches. 15[22:21] It's coming from a room that opens off the side of a corridor. A furtive peek around the corner reveals a row of seven broad backs, wrought all in silver, standing side by side, their arms moving in an intricate pattern. These are humanoid figures, moving ceaselessly and without acknowledging the intruders. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shoots Xu Sim a questioning look. [22:23] 13Xia Lan, whispering: "What in creation--" [22:28] 5Xu Sim gives a considered smile, or perhaps a half-frown. "They're just going through the motions. They should be making," 5he counts the beats, feels it, like a dull thudding dance of impossibly distant war drums - "skyship... bulkheads?" [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "...skyships?" [22:29] "But there's no steel, no silver," 5he murmurs. [22:29] 13No, wait, go back. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at them, and raises his voice to at least Xu Sim's volume. "Can you command 'em?" [22:30] "Someone's been eating my rice pudding," 5he mutters in slightly out-of-tune sing-song. [22:30] 14Stranger: "A waystation room of some sort, but also a foundry. Like blacksmiths, but also like loaders on a dock, sorting for warehouse -- something comes in there," 14he points to one hole in the wall, "and it goes out there," 14he points to the other, "but it is worked in-between. But it seems, to stretch the metaphor, that there are no ships. And that means no freight. And [22:30] that means no work." [22:31] "And this is only one such room. I suspect there are many." [22:31] 14To Keldar: "You wanted something that could build weapons." [22:32] "Who doesn't," 5Xu Sim gruffly intones as he brushes past them, to go deeper still. [22:32] "It's hard to imagine that anyone would spend this much time making this potent a sorcerous process at this scale for any other purpose." [22:33] 14He's following Xu Sim a bit more quickly now, trying not to let excitement bleed into his pace. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Question is what good they can do us now. We don't exactly have tons of spare steel and silver." 12He hurries along, too. [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "Slow down--" 13She's walking with a limp, after all. [22:35] 14Not THAT quickly. [22:35] 14...But he relents. [22:35] 13It's a pretty bad limp. [22:35] 13Used to be worse. [22:35] "Sorry." [22:35] 5Xu Sim glances back with a flash of irritation, or worse, in his eyes for an instant, before giving a resigned sigh and remembering himself. [22:36] 13She winces. "No, I shouldn't be - I'll be fine, if we can just. Keep this pace." 15[22:36] The group continues on. There's more rooms like this as the corridor cuts a broad arc around the mountain - unliving workers building nothing out of nothing. But the noise is muted - Xia Lan can tell that the acoustics in here are awful. [22:39] 13A frown. "This is - ugh." 13She hums a few bars of some song, and frowns deeper. "This was on purpose. Why was this on purpose." [22:39] 14To Keldar: "If we're lucky -- and I mean, really lucky -- the reason they're out of materials is because they've already finished working their stores. Meaning, all the work has already been done for us." 15[22:40] The walls and floor shade from blue to turquoise until everyone realizes they've turned fully green. Then the arc opens up into a huge wide chamber filled with a dim white light. The light comes from portholes; one apple-sized window in each of the man-sized bulbs of brass held aloft by polished brass pipes, row by row of them forwards and backwards and upwards. There must be hundreds. 15[22:40] Thousands. [22:40] "I don't think so," 5Xu Sim replies to Stranger, darkly. [22:40] 14The Ambassdor, to Xia Lan: "What's on purpose, dea--oo you know?" 15[22:40] Some of the windows are dim but comparatively very few. [22:41] 14Stranger: "What in Creation." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "This sounds awf -- oh my Sun." [22:44] 5Xu Sim looks it over. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What am I lookin' at here." [22:44] The Ambassador just stands with her mouth open. [22:44] 14The Ambassador just stands with her mouth open. [22:52] 5Xu Sim clears his throat and frowns. "Before I raised it up, this part was a fire demesne," [22:53] "The heart of this mountain was molten red, and I cooled it with my breath alone." 5He moves to one of the lit pods and tilts his head. [22:54] 13Her hands stray back to the twin swords. This is -- well, Xia Lan doesn't like it. [22:54] "In here, these, well," 5He gathers the sleeve of his robe in one hand and places it over the foggy glass. When he removes it, a human face - a woman, her eyes closed, her skin flush with the sleep of aeons. "Ultimate soldiers; they know nothing but to serve their master in war." [22:54] 14Big talk, but then, Stranger apparently had the ear of a Deathlord in the past. [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "...people?" [22:55] 14... [22:55] 14With much more of an edge: "People?" [22:55] 5Xu Sim swivels his head to look at Xia Lan like an owl. He purses his lips. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar quirks a brow. "Can't do a lot of soldiering from inside a pipe." [22:56] 5Xu Sim shudders. "For now, there they can stay. The dim ones must have perished, attrition. Waste." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "That wasn't, exactly, my concern." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Do you know how to wake 'em? Command 'em?" [22:57] 14Stranger: "Free them." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "Why are they- how are they- what is this." [22:58] "It's all in the Crucible." 5Xu Sim sweeps past the others and down the hall. [22:58] 14Stranger: "Do you know how to free them?" [22:59] 13Deep breaths. In, out. Xu Sim isn't the one who did this; it was a pre-incarnation. Still: "That better mean you know how to free them." [22:59] 14Stranger: "Then let's find the Crucible." [23:00] "Philosophy," 5he murmurs as he billows down the smooth floors of the corridor. 15[23:00] "No spirits," says Seven. "Where did they go? Or... did they never have any?" [23:00] 14For the first time, the Ambassador's carefully-arranged face betrays a slight discomfort when she looks at her mate. [23:01] 13A dark cloud passes over Xia Lan's face as she stalks purposefully after Xu Sim. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Automata, right? Tons of First Age stuff like that." 12It's not like he actually knows, but that's his guess. At any rate, he proceeds forward. [23:01] "No hunger. No fear. No remorse. No ambition. No purpose," 5he responds. "No purpose but to serve their master in war." [23:01] 13Xia Lan: "I hate this." 15[23:02] The path continues on. [23:02] 5Xu Sim grits his teeth rather than argue or explain and keeps going. 15[23:04] They pass more rooms bare of everything but those curious sockets. Some of them are the size of ballrooms. Some of them are the size of closets. Some of them are cells with bars of salt. [23:06] 13Beginning to think their pre-incarnations were all fucking awful. [23:06] 13...it's going to hurt when she finds out whatever her previous self was up to. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Except, obviously, for Keldar's. [23:07] 5The glorious bean farmer. [23:07] 13BeanBoy [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Farm better beans. You cannot. [23:07] 5Challenge accepted. [23:08] 14Soulless war machines. They don't have the mien of creatures of darkness, but they are offensive to his ideology nonetheless. The sorcerer guarantees they are merely walking suits of armor, but growing up he was no stranger to the tale of the clockwork child who yearned to be a real boy. [23:09] 14Just stories, but...if it were possible, would he take that chance? Would he risk that injustice to win the day in Nexus? [23:09] 14...He would. 15[23:10] A sharp turn off the long outer corridor guides them to the center of the plant. Here the wall and floors are yellow, and at the center of the central chamber is a great glass column, running down into the floor and up into the ceiling. As they approach, the tube flickers with green light, and a golden platform glides up from below to settle flush with the floor. 15[23:10] The tube unfolds with a hiss, admitting entrance. Enough room for everybody. [23:11] 5The discomforting horror of the soldiers behind them, Xu Sim makes for the elevator. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, all right then. Keldar'll step in as well, and even take a seat if there's one to be had. [23:13] 14Stranger's expression is severe but resolute. The Ambassador's is neutral now too, seeing the conflict leave her mate. [23:13] 14They join Xu Sim in the lift. [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "What is this." 13She hasn't entered yet. 15[23:13] Seven points up. "It must lead to the tower." [23:14] 13Frostily: "I'm a bit on edge after... the last few rooms." 15[23:14] To Xu Sim: "Did you summon it?" [23:14] 13She looks at Xu Sim, expectantly. [23:14] 14Stranger: "I think she means morally." 14To Xia Lan: "It's a desperate, calculated risk made in compromise." [23:15] 5Xu Sim: "Did I?" 5He frowns in contemplation. "I'm not sure. I'll have to check later." [23:15] 13She steps inside, eventually. "I'm still not okay with... any of this." [23:16] 14Stranger: "Neither am I. But we have to do it anyway." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Do we?" [23:16] 13She sounds tired. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We haven't even done anything yet. We're taking an inventory." [23:18] "We intend to do things." 14To Keldar this time, not Xu Sim: "If any of them do wake up and happen to have more to them than they should -- if any of them wake up people -- they are to be freed and compensated...once we win." [23:18] "I want that agreed between us, now." [23:19] "Desperate times," 5the doors to the lift slide down with another puff of steam, bathing the travellers in emerald light. "Desperate measures." 5with a strange sensation to anyone unaccustomed to such ancient luxuries, the golden platform begins its ascent. [23:19] "Additionally, the penalty for desertion for them is waived." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "More to them than-" 12He takes a moment to parse that correctly. "What? Yeah, this is Nexus. People get paid. 'course, golems and demons and such are another story." [23:20] 14To Xu Sim: "Do you agree?" 15[23:21] It rises past more floors, labeled in Old Realm... Cures & Diseases, Feast & Famine, Beasts & Demons... and then darkness as the tube cuts directly through the unworked mountain. [23:21] 14To all the members of the Circle: "And will we swear to it?" [23:22] "I will." [23:23] 13Xia Lan, immediately: "Of course." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, swear that the blue guys down there get freed and compensated after we fight the fae off? There's a lot of assumptions in there, like that they'll listen to any of us in the first place or can even still wake up or don't wake spontaneously years later or something." [23:24] "If they are capable of such things, it troubles me not to treat them like mercenaries. But what if the damage is already done? If they are like the soul-eaten or worse?" 5Xu Sim is rather despondent. [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "If they're people, they deserve a chance to... to be." [23:24] 14Stranger: "The Sun will know if you are true. The Sun will not need 'oh, they didn't end up fighting after all' explained to him." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The stuff here's Xu Sim's business first and foremost and we've still only got half an idea of what any of it might be worth to us. I'm waiting to see." [23:25] 14Stranger: "The 'stuff' here is Circle business. We would not be here but for this Circle -- all of its members." [23:26] "My gate, your tracking skills, Xu Sim's recollection..." 14He glances at Xia Lan. Does she want to say it? [23:26] 13No. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "True, but in this case I'm willing to do the pathfinding gratis. That's Old Realm for free." [23:26] 14He'll let it lie, then. [23:27] 13She wouldn't stop Stranger from saying it. But she's not going to admit to it. 15[23:29] The elevator floods with sunlight as they rise through a tower of glass and alabaster. The floors here are unlabeled and full of personal furnishings. This was somebody's home. [23:32] 5Xu Sim's hand snakes up, of its own accord, to the glass wall of the lift. [23:33] 14Stranger: "Give it some thought, at least. We can pick it up later." [23:33] 14He looks around the room. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar presses his lips together. "...allll right, where's the maid?" [23:39] 14In the silence that follows, he stares out of the elevator glass. "This place...quite the audacious living space. Library, laboratory, all sorts of strange...Essence chambers...all untouched for hundreds of years, I'd say." 14Then he frowns. "Except there's no dust." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Too clean. If there's a golem or something that's been dusting every day maybe it can answer questions." [23:40] "Where would the dust come from?" 5Xu Sim asks, shaking his head. [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "How many years has it even been around, though? What with the. Calibration thing." [23:42] 14Stranger: "Dust is a physical thing. So far the rules of this simulacrum have allowed for cut corners on insubtantial things -- sunlight, shadow, heat, pressure -- but everything has been in its place physically, just so. And we have seen that things can indeed break here, as witnessed down in that...barracks. Armory. Whatever it was." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And even if time only passses here one day a year, that's still hundreds of days, right? Let's figure out what's keeping things tidy." [23:43] "All the answers are in the Crucible," 5Xu Sim repeats. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then where's that?" [23:43] 13Xia Lan, muttering: "They'd better be." [23:43] 14Stranger: "If we're lucky, the top of this tube." [23:43] 5Xu Sim nods at Stranger. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, then." 12He's ready to follow Xu Sim up. 15[23:44] The elevator rises past the residence and into a chamber of glass and metal. A perfect circle from end to end, floor and ceiling lined with elaborate arcane symbols, organized in vast spirals of pure orichalcum that stretch from the very outer edge of the room atop the tower, sign and symbol blending into something seamless and celestial. The spiral doesn't converge in the center; here 15[23:44] there's a gap in the floor for the elevator to rise into, and above there is a glass skylight flooding the room with sun. 15[23:45] There's another silver back to them, this one totally still. Its limbs are long and graceful, light-fingered hands resting on a violet orb that roils and flashes with an inner storm. [23:46] 5Xu Sim's mouth hangs open slightly as he stares, utterly unabashedly. [23:46] 14To Xu Sim, quietly: "Is the Crucible the room? Or is the Crucible...that?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Man, if we pry these walls clean- ...whassat?" [23:47] 5Whispering: "An invincible silver son." [23:47] 13Xia Lan is just gawping. Rude or not. 15[23:47] The statue's head pulls up. [23:48] 5Xu Sim slowly shuts his mouth, then opens it again: "Greetings." 15[23:50] It turns around to face the group. It's over seven feet tall, silver from head to toe, limber and graceful. It bears no mark of office, no name to mark it, and no face look upon them. Instead there's a spiral, as above and below, winding inward on the front of its head and failing to meet in the middle. It looks like a placeholder for a face. Something incomplete. 15[23:51] "I don't know you." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at it, then at Xu Sim. [23:52] "I am Xu Sim, Emissary of Nexus, who slew Bleak Ardua and cured the honey-maze. I am the master of Thran, and its Disciples." 15[23:53] "Thran's master is dead." 15[23:55] "But you are acquainted with Thran. You took the third most efficient route to the Crucible." [23:55] 14To Xu Sim, through the Codex. [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "Third most-- what's happening here?" [23:57] "If I am not he, then I am the one who stands upon his shoulders." 15[23:57] "Here we all do." [23:58] 14The Ambassador is too collected to gape, but she is startled to silence, giving the...golem?...a once over. [00:01] "On behalf all things I have inherited from whoever he was-" 5his caste mark shines upon his forehead - "I ask for the dominion of the Crucible and this place." 15[00:01] "You may not have it." [00:01] "And why not?" 15[00:03] The statue speaks in a rolling monotone, each word following each other at precise intervals. "Thran's master is dead. I am the keeper of the tower the plant and the mine." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who was that master?" 15[00:04] "Urza who is called Planeswalker." [00:05] 13Xia Lan: "Why?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Urza ever provide for, like, inheritance by a successor?" [00:05] "If the master is dead, why keep this place?" 15[00:05] "That is what I am for." [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "That's not an answer." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not... another human? His reincarnation, maybe?" [00:06] "Is it ever night, here?" 14The Ambassador asks, looking up into the skylight. "It is day now. Luna eclipses the Sun on Calibration. But is she ever given the sky to herself, here? Or is it just the Sun?" [00:08] 5Xu Sim takes a step forward. "If I try to use the Crucible, will you try to stop me?" 15[00:08] "It was night once in Thran. Here now both the sun and the moon are foreign." 15[00:08] To Xu Sim: "I will. Do not attempt to take the Crucible." [00:08] 14Stranger, quietly, after all the other questions this round have been asked: "Do you feel anything for Urza Planeswalker anymore?" [00:09] 13Xia Lan: "I still don't understand why you're even - do you have dreams? Ambitions?" [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If Urza was back, though, you'd step aside?" 15[00:11] "Urza was my father. I love him. His death was regrettable." 15[00:11] "He will not come back." 15[00:12] To Xia Lan: "If I didn't then I wouldn't find your question insulting." [00:12] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Who killed Urza Planeswalker?" 15[00:12] "I did." [00:12] 14He nods. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "...what for?" [00:12] 13Xia Lan: "I- you're right. My apologies." [00:12] 13Not that that makes a difference. 15[00:13] To Keldar: "I can't remember." [00:13] 13"You insulted me." "Oops, sorry." I've done a diplomacy. [00:14] "Do you have a name?" 15[00:14] "I once did. I can't remember anymore. Urza called me 'son'." [00:15] "And the Dreamer Mentat? The Disciples?" 15[00:16] "Who?" [00:16] "Do you know the Disciples of Thran?" 15[00:16] "No." [00:17] "Who plundered this place, if you keep it?" 15[00:18] "I did." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar touches a fist to his chin for a moment in thought. "And the, uh, just to make sure, the prospect of Urza reincarnating - you know, coming back as a new Chosen - that matter to you at all?" 15[00:19] "Inheritance doesn't make you an heir. You are not Urza Planeswalker." [00:19] 13Xia Lan: "Well, of course he isn't." [00:19] "...suppose that means the empty bodies were on purpose, then?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws a breath then releases it. "Alright, so what'd make someone an heir? Or does the buck just stop with you?" [00:20] 14Stranger: "How did Urza Planeswalker fail you?" 15[00:20] "Urza named no heirs. I am his only son." 15[00:21] To Stranger: "Is it failure to die before completing me?" [00:21] 13Yes. [00:21] "Do you care anything for the world beyond Thran?" [00:22] 13All of their pre-incarnations are just going to turn out the dirt fucking worst, huh. [00:22] 14Stranger purses his lips. "It is a father's duty to raise his son." 15[00:22] To Xu Sim: "I am bored." [00:23] 13Xia Lan: "How long have you been here?" [00:23] 14The Ambassador: "...There's no animals on this island, are there? Have you ever seen a bird? A swan? A cat?" 15[00:24] To Xia Lan: "I have witnessed 1,939 breaches of the sky." 15[00:25] To the Ambassador: "Kureiton keeps the animals. None can live in Urza's domain." [00:25] 13Breaches of... what? [00:25] 14The Ambassador: "Would you like to?" 15[00:26] "So long as they are not captive." [00:28] 13Xia Lan blanches. "A thousand, nine hundred thirty nine Calibrations?" 15[00:28] "Give or take zero." 15[00:28] "That was a joke." [00:28] "That's -- " 13She shakes her head. "Awful." [00:29] 14Stranger chuckles at that. "I am no one's captive," 14she says. "I am no one's pet." 14She steps forward and curls in on herself, ears sprouting from her head with whiskers, hands turning into paws, shrinking, shrinking -- when she's done, she's an adorable, tiny housecat, black fur with a white tux, and she daintily prances forward before leaping up, up, up, to curl in the palm [00:29] 14of the Son's hand, purring. 15[00:30] The Son tilts its faceless head downward. "Thank you." [00:31] 13...kitty... [00:31] 5Xu Sim leans in to Seven - "How do you handle something like this, eh?" [00:31] 14The Ambassador stays a minute more, then gently tooths one of his silver fingers and leaps down. [00:31] 14Stranger: "Do you believe that it matters that you deserve better than this tower and this island?" [00:32] "I'll answer first: I do." 15[00:33] Seven whispers, "Perhaps it's possible to transpose him temporarily. I theorize that you could control him from the crucible. But he seems reasonable. Maybe we can bargain." [00:33] "Do you wish to be completed, Son?" 5Xu Sim asks. 15[00:34] "Yes." [00:34] 14Is that to Stranger? Xu Sim? Both? 15[00:34] It's not clear. 15[00:35] The Son is still looking down at its palm. [00:36] "What ways are you incomplete?" 15[00:36] "I don't know." 15[00:36] "I can't say." 15[00:36] "But something is missing." [00:36] 13Xia Lan: "Are you forbidden from leaving here? Maybe we can help you find it." [00:36] "Whatever it is." 15[00:38] "I am the keeper of the tower the plant and the mine." [00:38] 14Stranger: "We can help you complete yourself, and you can see the world you deserve to see. But there's something you have to do first." [00:38] "You have to forgive yourself." 15[00:39] "No." [00:39] "May I examine you? No tricks." 15[00:39] "You may sit in the palm of my hand." 15[00:40] "That seems to be the standard." [00:40] 13...cute. [00:40] 5Xu Sim chuckles and steps forward to get a closer look at this entity, and how it might be incomplete. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a couple steps closer just in case the thing decides to crush Xu Sim to death. 15[00:42] NEXT TIME: Next time