15[20:01] 10Daizo advances to Dryas' side, and casually raps the ground with his tetsubo. Then, he raises his voice. "In the name of the Scarlet Empress and the Immaculate Order, I call upon you now to cease any improper conduct with spirits and return to prescribed methods of worship! Bring out your god, so we may converse!" 15[20:02] Daizo's voice carries over the wide congress of white-robed revelers, disturbing many of them. The cultists running their hands over the Dynasts hesitate and withdraw. 15[20:04] Their leader, a woman wreathed in flowers so light on her sandaled feet that the stems of flowers don't bend beneath her, throws wide her arms. "If you seek our monument... look around you!" 15[20:05] Behind Daizo are Zhangyu, Salim, and Dryas on her horse. Where has Piu set up? [20:06] 14There was some latticing or beam-work above the, ah, orgy, right? Piu's found a place to swoop or pounce from. 15[20:07] There are tree branches, at least. [20:08] 6Zhangyu continues to glare at anyone approaching him or that approached him in the past. At this point, it's mainly defensive. [20:09] 14Tree branches it is, then. [20:10] 07Dryas gazes coolly down at the withdrawing, hesitating rabble. Do they not know the glory of the Princes of Earth when they see it? The glamour of the Dynasty? [20:11] 14Hopefully they only see the three. And they're not hiding swords in their...very few places to be hiding swords. 15[20:13] These revelers definitely seem more confused or startled than awed or cowed... [20:15] "What is this barbarian prattle?" 07questions Dryas in High Realm. [20:16] 6Zhangyu: "Seatongue." 6He translates to High Realm for Dryas's benefit. [20:20] "Monument?" 07she titters imperiously. "It's a below-average orgy. Is it even catered?" 15[20:20] Does Zhangyu translate back? [20:20] 6It's not a perfect translation; 'monument' in Seatongue's closest equivalent in High Realm is something along the lines of 'tombstone,' but. [20:20] 14Ah, Dryas. What an ambassador of the Realm. [20:21] 14If she's intent on spoiling the mood, Piu should take a look around while she's got the chance. Is there anything interesting or possibly dangerous around that Piu should get a read on that the orgy might have distracted the eye from before now? [20:22] 6He will translate directly. He's picking a fight and it isn't even his fault, this is perfect. [20:23] 10Daizo frowns. Monument insteead of god. So they're idol-worshippers, perhaps, or…" 10That still probably wouldn't account for the foreboding phenomena in the spiritual realm. 15[20:25] The speaker's face falters, wide smile becoming an exaggerated frown. "Are you unhappy?" 15[20:25] Groans of discontent ripple through the crowd. [20:26] "Ask this woman her name, and what became of everyone else on the island," 07Dryas instructs Daizo. [20:26] 14...Are they on drugs, or is this some magic? 15[20:27] That'd be hard to determine without examining them more closely. [20:27] 6Zhangyu is not thrilled to be the go-between here, but obeys regardless. "She wants to know your name and the fate of the island." [20:27] 14Mmmmm...that would be fun. But not the job. [20:27] 14And possibly very unsafe. [20:28] 10Daizo, of course, doesn't speak a word of Seatongue, and Seiri is safely back on the ship. But the leader seems to understand a few words of civilized languages, if not speak them. [20:29] 10To Zhangyu: "Specifically, what it was that caused them to abandon the town." [20:30] 6He translates that directly, unlike what he's been doing with Dryas's words. 15[20:35] Dryas, unable to speak this woman's language, settles for studying her. The leader is wearing no amulets, idols, trinkets, or weapons. There's the sense of something off about her posture, a tension in the limbs and joints that belies her graceful movement and light steps, that Dryas can sense but not identify. If only she'd had greater facility with the study of medicine...! One thing 15[20:35] Dryas can determine readily is the periodic eerie silence that fills the jungle as everyone in it save her band of Chosen breathes in time with one another. [20:37] 10Well, that's normal. [20:38] 4And here she thought she'd seen all forms of breathplay-- 15[20:39] The leader: "You have all come to walk with me. Please be at ease. I speak for Carmine Road." [20:39] 14Piu moves to another branch, trying to circle around into a blindspot just in case she needs to strike at the leader. [20:42] 6To the rest of the group, he repeats everything in High Realm. Still, 'Carmine Road' doesn't make sense... [20:46] 10Daizo: "Show us this Carmine Road, then." 10At least it sounds like it's the name of something. 15[20:46] She continues: "Those prisons and cages, those clots of wood and stone are useless to us. Useless to you. You're free now." [20:47] 14Piu's been to a couple orgies that went this kind of sideways, and when it goes this kind of sideways, you want to make sure you're eating nothing, drinking nothing, touching nothing unfamiliar to you, and looking for the exits. [20:48] 14Cults, man. [20:49] 6Zhangyu: "What is the Carmine Road?" [20:49] 14Instructive perhaps that she didn't use the article. [20:50] 10Daizo is beginning to get the feeling that further discussion is more or less useless. Are there any other obvious paths out of the clearing? 15[20:51] There aren't many obstructions, except for the crowd of people around you, who you'll have to force back whichever way you go. 15[20:52] The leader reaches out to take Zhangyu's hand. "We are so many beautiful things." [20:52] 14Piu tenses... [20:53] 6He can fight his way out of this if it goes badly. And it will. Because come on. He takes the offered hand. [20:54] 10Daizo: "Dryas! We should move on. We'll get no useful talk out of these savages." 15[20:57] The leader clasps Zhangyu's hand and pulls herself toward him on it, getting close enough to run her other (very warm) hand up his forearm. "Deep and strong... ancient blood..." His arm begins to tingle. [21:00] "This is unacceptable,"07 Dryas states flatly, jabbing her heels into the flanks of her horse -- [21:04] 07The animal rears, and Dryas shouts down at the woman, in her High Realm - "Kneel, worm, and cease your prevarications! We are Princes of Earth!" [21:05] Daizo slams his weapon against the ground… which all but rings like a bell in response, a tremor wave sweeping out from the Blooded to punctuate Dryas' order. [21:05] 10Daizo slams his weapon against the ground… which all but rings like a bell in response, a tremor wave sweeping out from the Blooded to punctuate Dryas' order. [21:06] 14It's fight or fright time. [21:07] 10So much for the by-the-book approach. 15[21:07] The leader recoils as if burned. The entire clearing gasps as one. [21:08] 14Looks like fright. [21:08] 10What's Salim been doing through all of this? 15[21:09] Salim is shadowing Dryas, arms folded in his sleeves, head bowed and eyes shut. [21:10] 10Hmm. Back to the immediate problem, then. [21:10] 6We're gonna fight? We're gonna fight and Zhangyu didn't cause it? 15[21:11] There is nothing save the hearth to fill the awful silence as the sky goes dark. Each of them can feel their pulse quicken, pounding in their chest, their throat, their temples as a red rain begins to fall, rustling the leaves and ferns like the wings of sleeping birds. 15[21:12] "Please," begs the leader. "Please don't fight." [21:12] 14Ah. [21:13] 6Zhangyu translates faithfully, but his sneering tone is probably audible even if they don't speak High Realm. [21:13] 14As they say down south, por que no los dos? [21:15] 10Thump. Thump. Thump. Finding his voice is suddenly hard. "This is not the way things should be. It's—it's for your own good." [21:16] 14Is this actual blood? [21:16] 14The rain. [21:17] 07Dryas considers for a moment. 15[21:19] The smell of real blood is on the air, unmistakable... but so too are the scents of seawater and vinegar. What's more, the rain doesn't cling to skin or clothes like blood does. Whatever it is, it's not *purely* blood. [21:21] 6Tepet Zhangyu licks some of it off his face. Definitely not pure blood - he would know. [21:21] 07Dryas: "Find out who she is and what has become of the Guildsmen here. Is this rabble all that remains? Then ask if they've seen a great fleet of ships." [21:22] 10There's a catch in Daizo's helm. He presses it and a crystal visor drops down to cover his eyes and a mouthguard snaps into place.  [21:23] 14Piu verified this by licking some off her lips. Interesting. And yes, too salty for blood. [21:24] 07Dryas simply grits her teeth for an instant. "Is this witchcraft? Have we crossed a Bordermarch, or into a Shadowland?" [21:24] 6Dully, almost monotone: "She wants to know who you are, what happened to the Guildsmen, and whether you've seen a fleet of ships." 6C'mon. Say something rude enough to fight over... [21:30] 10Nothing's coming with the rain yet, then? Unless… Daizo fishes another small mirror from somewhere, and focuses. 15[21:33] Red lightning forks the sky, and lingers like a retinal burn against rust-colored clouds. Daizo sees this lightning overlay the deepest, angriest vein of the pulsing network in the sky, arterial branches that spread and taper into the storm from end to end. The leader leans back and stares, wide-eyed, the rain staining her robes. "Walk Carmine Road and forsake your pasts... forsake 15[21:33] your names... walk in laurels, not in chains." [21:34] 14A place, then. [21:34] 14Or an ideology. Or both. [21:39] 10Daizo: "I don't think this is either of those, Dryas. I think… we should follow the lightning." 10Or return to the ship and bombard the entire island into a smoking ruin,10 he doesn't say—they have no other leads on the location of the fleet.  [21:47] 07Dryas stares down at the woman. "No." 07Turning to Daizo - "Then we shall follow it, and catch it if necessary." [21:48] 14...Under different circumstances, forsaking her name and walking in laurels instead of in chains would have been an enticing offer. [21:48] 14But there's work to be done. [21:50] 10Daizo hopes they've been sufficiently cowed to not try anything stupid.  15[21:56] Lightning crackles again as the hearth departs, passing through blood-red rain and the lingering touch of the lost villagers. But the storm doesn't follow them into the treeline, and the rain's dried from their skin by the time they emerge into the abandoned trading post, where the sky is merely dark with coming rain. [21:57] 14Piu's waiting for them when they hit the treeline. "Wise to leave them alone?" [21:57] 14She drops down to fall in line. [21:57] "They can't outrun us, nor hide on this island for long," 07Dryas replies. [22:00] 14Piu, curtly: "We're not going to enslave them. Kill a leader or two, issue a decree, but we don't have the time to spend and we're not outfitted for purpose. This isn't a Cynis fleet." 15[22:00] Salim spares a last glance up at the sky as they press deeper into the jungle. [22:02] 6Zhangyu declines to translate any of that. [22:02] 10Daizo: "More to the point, they didn't look armed. And the thought that we might raise a hand against them was at least as effective as Dryas' command." [22:03] "Perhaps they can yet be freed from whatever's exerting its influence here." [22:03] 07Dryas nods at Piu's assessment. "The Guild can send more workers and do as they please with those lunatics... Assuming that they don't snap out of whatever has gotten a hold of them once we get to whatever Daizo's sniffing out. Hopefully they do, I suppose. Did you notice their breathing? All together. Inauspicious." [22:04] 14Piu: "Yes. And blood rain. But not quite blood. Did any of you taste it?" [22:04] "Seawater in there. Something like vinegar too." [22:05] 14She idly strokes Diamond Weapon's mane. [22:05] 6Zhangyu: "Nothing like blood. Just the coloring." [22:05] 10Daizo: "It stank. Forgive me if I didn't sample the bouquet." [22:06] 6Raised eyebrow: "Forgive me for being curious, cousin." [22:06] "Terribly inauspicious," 07Dryas adds. 15[22:06] Further inland, the rain still falls red, and the jungle is still eerily bereft of anima life. The soil becomes uneven and rocky, the trees thin. Soon Diamond Weapon's hooves scrape solid stone, and the lingering afterglow of the storm's lightning reveals pillars, cracked and toppled and overgrown with vines. 15[22:06] *animal life [22:06] 14Piu: "We must use all our senses. I'll take point and sweep, if that's amenable." [22:07] 6Seems fine to Zhangyu. She's certainly proved her worth at stealth. [22:09] 10Daizo: "I'd be glad of it." [22:10] 14Piu nods and filters forward. [22:10] 14Unless Dryas countermands. [22:11] 07She does not, instead waving her forward with a gesture taken from the 1001 Upright Actions, the Realm's military handbook. [22:12] 14Ah, the famous joke book. [22:12] 14She moves into the underbrush. [22:19] 10The upside to a stout helm is that people really have to *work* to crack it and spill your brains on the ground. The downside is that it kind of boxes you in.  [22:20] 07It's an impressive helm though. Crystal visor! [22:20] 14Jungle operations. Not really what she's been trained for. Frankly, she hasn't been trained for a lot of the things she's had to do on this trip besides kill people. Maybe this is supposed to be one of those dreaded growth moments. [22:20] 14Ugh. 15[22:22] Piu presses ahead, walking across cracked stone tiles and the ferns that grow between them. Whatever structure this was has almost submerged into the undergrowth. All is silent, all is still. She's able to pick through rubble, dead trees, and collapsed pillars to navigate without twisting her ankle or putting her weight on an unstable tile. [22:23] 14Rice paper is a good teacher. 15[22:23] Back with the horse, Dryas and Zhangyu feel the air grow denser, as if a hundred people held their breaths all at once. 15[22:24] Then the lightning flashes, and they see the faces in the trees. The white-robed revelers have followed through through the jungle, in total silence. [22:24] 14Great. 15[22:24] They stand maybe thirty paces back. [22:26] 6Danger. [22:27] 10Daizo's occupied with the reflection of the10 thing 10in the sky. 15[22:28] In that same flash of lightning Piu comes upon a brown stone formation so jagged and sundered it looks almost natural, but traces of symbols, worn nearly smooth, give the lie to that. The stonework is hollow, visibly so, as a massive black-stained crack in the stone obscures a large, rounded object within. [22:28] 07Dryas glances back warily and grimaces. She shrugs her shortbow off her shoulder but stops short of notching an arrow. "DIdn't get the message, did they," 07she mutters to the other Dynasts. [22:30] 14Well, let's take a look, and try not to get killed. [22:30] 14Can she signal Daizo forward from here without shouting? [22:30] 14If not, she'll move back to get him. He's the symbols guy. 15[22:31] No, she can't see him. [22:31] 14Moving back it is. [22:31] 10Daizo resists the urge to spin around and bellow at their guests. He whispers, "They followed us? Bunch of damn fools." [22:33] 6Zhangyu: "Not the wisest move." 6They're still, at least temporarily, safe, so he feels fine quipping. [22:35] 14Piu approaches. "Daizo, something you need to see up ahead. I'm not leader here, so I defer tactics...but my thought is Dryas, you move up with him, cover him, and me and Zhangyu work security." [22:36] "What did you find?" 07Dryas asks in a low voice, counting faces and looking for the leader. [22:37] 14Piu: "A hidden orb of some kind, in a chamber of worn symbols." [22:38] "There's a trope of an ancient, awakened monster from the First Age, exerting its power over the minds of men..." [22:38] "And there's a big, black-stained crack in that thing's holding chamber. Or tomb. Or whatever." [22:38] 10Daizo: "Some Anathema's playihing they didn't put away properly, no doubt." [22:39] 14Piu: "Sounds like you're up, nerd." [22:39] 14The tone is playful, with a worried undercurrent. [22:39] 14Given, you know. The stalking mob. [22:40] 6Zhangyu declines to translate that. [22:41] 10Daizo can't help but grin a little… behind the mouthplate. Luckily the smile reaches his eyes. "Lead the way, dork." 15[22:41] Piu leads the others inward. After a few moments, a glance back reveals that the cultists follow a respectful(?) distance behind. [22:42] 14How does Dryas want to play this? Piu's way or her own plan? If it's Piu's way, she'll lead the two of them back to the site, then rejoin Zhangyu on the perimeter. 15[22:42] Soon Daizo is faced with the broken stonework. [22:42] 07Dryas keeps an eye out for a natural chokepoint to station Zhangyu, Piu, and Salim. [22:42] 14Ah right. He's here too. [22:42] 14Ugh. [22:43] 6Zhangyu will obey any orders to the letter. For better or worse. [22:44] 07She offers the cult-leader a desultory salute as they proceed deeper into the ruined temple. [22:45] "It's too open here, too exposed to split up," 07she murmurs to Piu. [22:46] 14Piu: "Agreed. Use us as you see fit. You have command. But I'd prioritize natural defenses." [22:47] 10Daizo: "Could use a little more light here." 10Diamond Weapon's surely got a lamp or lantern in the saddlebags.  [22:47] 14Piu: "I could enter my aspect." [22:47] "But I should probably be in front." [22:48] 14She pats the horse as she goes by. [22:48] 14Horsey... [22:49] 6Good dog. [22:52] 07Dogs are fine creatures. But refer this horse as a dog even a single time and see what happens. [22:52] 6Are you sure you want to come at the king with that kind of talk. [22:52] 6Best not miss. [22:53] 07Archery excellencies, baby. [22:53] 10Daizo pulls off a gauntlet and inspects the ancient engravings. Half by touch and half by sight, it begins to come together… 15[22:57] Daizo studies the broken ideograms, a peculiar rendering of Old Realm. He sees phrases -- like the heart has reasons that reason doesn't know and score red miles in the earth -- that read as ward and warning. This is an altar and an ark - meant to seal away something profane. The seal deteriorated over centuries and was recently broken; he sees the telltale fresh cuts of chisels 15[22:57] against the stone. [23:00] 10Daizo: "Allow me to issue a correction. Someone did put their toys away, and then some idiot upended the toybox." [23:01] 14Piu's watching the perimeter. How are we doing? 15[23:01] The cultists are inching closer and closer. 15[23:02] Twenty paces back now. [23:02] 14Well, fuck. [23:02] 6Their funeral. [23:02] 14Piu: "Let's make this quick. And Dryas, look for another way out." [23:03] 14There's not going to be one, not one Diamond Weapon can take, but it's always good to look. [23:03] 10How about the orb? Just dull stone, or does it appear to be something more? [23:04] 14Is Salim in position? 15[23:04] Is Daizo going to try and take it out, or just study it in the ark? [23:04] 07Dryas: "How do we stop it?" 15[23:04] Salim is helping hold the perimeter. [23:05] 14To Salim, then: "Be ready. To kill them, yeah, but also to stop killing them and run." [23:05] "I'll draw them off," 07she suggests, "If they're the worst we have to deal with." [23:06] 14Piu: "If." [23:06] 10Daizo locks his gauntlet back on. If the seal is broken, it probably can't be remade without a proper study of the object. He's going to reach out to it and see if it reacts to a touch. [23:06] "But if you ride well, and trust the horse...it's a better plan than I've got." [23:06] 6Zhangyu: "That's where I come in, I think." [23:07] 07Dryas: "What's the worst thing I can call someone in Seatongue, Zhangyu? Quietly tell me." [23:07] 10If it doesn't immediately provoke a response? Then he's going to pull it out. [23:08] 6Zhangyu blanches, then whispers a horrible cuss to Dryas in Seatongue. 15[23:09] The object (metal, Daizo observes, not stone) is inert to the touch. It takes some exertion to extract it entirely - splitting the ark even further - but soon he's cradling a pineapple-sized chunk of obsidian, chipped and polished into a curious shape, and solidly, deeply cracked. [23:11] 6Oh, shit. [23:11] 10Daizo: "So that part about the heart having reasons was meant literally. Great." 15[23:12] Even at a distance, the cultists gasp in unison when the heart is extracted. The leader strides forward, stained crimson from head to toe, and the cultists follow her. [23:13] 6Zhangyu places himself between the cultists and his cousin. 15[23:13] "Please," she calls against the rising wind, "Leave it. Leave it and lay down your arms." [23:14] 6There's no setting down these guns. [23:14] 14Yup. [23:14] 14Piu: "...There's a chance that pulling that kills them all." [23:14] "Are we all good with that?" [23:15] 10Daizo: "You and yours should have left it well enough alone! Now we have to clean up this mess!" [23:15] 07Dryas, urgently: "Taking this back to the ship could be dangerous. I'll draw them away into the jungle. If that doesn't work, I'll ride off with it and meet you at the Guild headquarters in the abandoned town." [23:16] "They're following me one way or another. But they'll never catch me." [23:16] 14Guess we are. Piu sets her feet. [23:17] 10Daizo: "Got it." 10He's poised to hand it off to someone lighter on their feet who can then hand it to Dryas.  [23:22] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon to the side, brandishing her bow and nocking an arrow to the string. "Hey you! Come and get me, tuan tanah! " [23:23] 14Piu bares her teeth... 15[23:23] A hundred pairs of eyes fix on Dryas at once. [23:23] 6Oh dear. [23:24] "Tuan tanah! Tuan tanah! Tuan tanah!" 07She spurs Diamond Weapon into motion and ducks a dangling vine. [23:24] 6Oh no he should not have taught her that. [23:25] 10Whatever it is, it's wrenched their eyes away from Daizo and the dark heart for even a moment.  [23:26] 10He presses it into Piu's hands. "Make it disappear, or throw it if you have to." [23:27] 14The smile widens to a grin. Okay. [23:27] 14She's played tackle before. 15[23:28] The cultists' eyes follow Dryas... but they aren't giving chase. [23:29] "Alright, throw it!" 07she shouts to Piu. [23:30] 14Piu steps, torques, and-- "Hup!" [23:32] "I got it!" 07Dryas drops the arrow and snatches the tomb's heart instead, cradling it in a single arm like one might a baby, for a moment. If she's not struck down by lightning she slips it into a saddlebag, spurring Diamond Weapon away from the mob. [23:38] 10It seems to Daizo that the cultists are faster than one might expect for a bunch of savages living in indolence.  [23:39] 14Perhaps they've hit the Road. [23:39] 6Perhaps they should hit the dirt. 15[23:40] The cult leader lunges after her! and doubles over, vomiting sour red blood onto ancient stone that seems to absorb it instantly. The words she speaks are garbled and distorted; Daizo recognizes Old Realm. "This - benediction -" 15[23:45] Above the lightning flashes again... and the light doesn't fade. Veins split the sky, burning, pulsing, a massive heartbeat that rolls like thunder. A bolt strikes the cult leader, who bursts into fire... body tossed away as a fissure opens in the ground, spilling forth crimson light, that tears a crooked path through the jungle floor towards the huntress. [23:52] 10Daizo: "Shit! I hope Diamond Weapon can outrun that—" [23:53] 14Piu: "Few things in Creation can outrun the lightning." [23:53] 10This place is already in ruins and the seal is broken. Smashing it up further probably won't do anything to help Dryas now.  15[23:55] Red miles sear the earth, spreading out in every direction from the point of impact. But only the one coursing towards Dryas burns with killing intent. Yet she's a skilled rider, and her steed is swift, and the storm cannot touch her. [23:57] 10Daizo: "We've got our orders. We should fall back to the Guild compound… and trust in her skill." [23:58] 14Piu: "...We could do that." [23:58] "I want to see what happens to the commoners." [23:58] "When the Red Rule or whatever the fuck it's called doesn't get its way, I want to see what happens to the commoners." [23:59] 6If she can dodge that, she can handle herself. Zhangyu: "We shouldn't stick around for long." 6He's not disagreeing, just. Being safe. [00:00] 10What is the disposition of the remaining believers, anyway? And did the leader survive her auto-sacrifice?  [00:01] 14Piu, without looking away: "If the worst happens, they deserve to at least have someone watch them die." [00:04] 07Dryas outran the desert winds, and she can outrun the lightning of the archipelago; she leans into Diamond Weapon, clutching her knees tightly to his body as they dodge through a maze of trees, vines, and stonework. [00:05] 14She'll glance over at Salim. Has his mendacious ass wandered off, or? 15[00:06] The cultists lurch and stagger after her, but they cannot match a horse in flight. 15[00:09] Salim is... helping the cult leader up? [00:10] 14...More decent of him than she expected. [00:10] 14She'll keep an eye on it but not interfere. [00:13] 07Dryas and Diamond Weapon weave through the underbrush and around trees with incredible agility; Dryas practically scurries sideways out of the saddle to make through one particularly tight turn at a full gallop through red-stained mud. 15[00:16] Dryas is able to outpace not just the fissue, but the storm itself, fleeing past its boundaries and escaping into the clean and gentle evening rain that falls on the abandoned trading post. 15[00:17] The cultists stop at red water's edge. They go no farther. 15[00:18] Even the leader, steady on her feet now, stays put, after Piu catches Salim whisper something into her ear and press two fingers surreptitiously against the back of her neck. Her eyes flutter and go briefly blank. [00:20] 14From as close as she can get behind him before he reacts: "Well done." 15[00:23] Salim closes his eyes briefly, but when he speaks his voice is unperturbed. "Shall we leave them to their new god?" [00:23] "I don't get to make that call. But my preference is no." [00:24] "I'd prefer to cull the lightning." 15[00:26] Salim inclines his head. The abandoned trading post, last living ship, and fate of the island await. [00:26] 10Daizo: "If it turns out to be beyond our ability to resolve, then I for one say we bring in the exorcists." 15[00:26] NEXT TIME: A family thing