15[20:07] Wind lashes the rain against the tiny outpost the hearth are huddled in, debating the fate of the island's strange cult. The ship's sorceress, Cynis Caxi, has made a... controversial proposal: abandon the cultists to find an exorcist, perhaps leaving them to a terrible fate. 15[20:10] Leftenant Peleps Catela, formerly of the pursued Admiral Furia's fleet and rescued by the hearth, looks to the Commodore for guidance. As, perhaps, do the hearth. [20:10] 14Have we determined what percentage of the cultists are former villagers, as opposed to former crewmembers of Catela's command? 15[20:10] No. It's not clear how you'd go about doing that. [20:11] 14Well...not really any of Piu's business either way, really. [20:11] 6Very carelessly. [20:11] 6Shouldn't have been standing there. Sorry. [20:12] 07Dryas does not - immediately, or directly - disagree with her cousin. Instead, she proposes: "Let's consider what we know to be true." [20:12] 14In fact, probably better strategically for the House to leave them to their fates. [20:13] 10Daizo was in favor of calling in the professionals… until Caxi waltzed in, pilfered the idol, and let slip that the rest of Ratel's "special agents", including himself, have all been total patsies until now. [20:14] 07Dryas: "We know that, at least once, Carmine Road's hold over its thralls was interrupted..." [20:15] 07Dryas: "We also know that this vaporous cloud it summoned up is capable of terrible destruction - assuming it makes contact with its foes, anyway-" 15[20:15] Perhaps to Daizo's shock, no one else in the room seemed to react with the same intensity as he did to Caxi's revelation. [20:16] 6Zhangyu is going to quietly freak out later. But, not in public. 15[20:16] Caxi: "You can't simply *sever* a connection to a spirit of this nature. It would be like putting an egg back in it shell after you've scrambled it." 15[20:17] Ratel: "How do you know?" [20:17] 14Piu was vaguely surprised by that too, but she's in the middle of trying to recruit Caxi outright, as an agent if not a full-fledged House mate, so she's inclined to give the erstwhile schemer some leash. [20:17] 4Hee. [20:17] 10Not to put too fine a point on it, Daizo's having a little bit of a sulk, although he's trying his damnedest not to show it. Dryas' words go in one ear and out the other. [20:25] "It's irrelevant if they can be saved," 07Dryas argues. "If there are other members of the Fleet there, they could compromise our mission. We must make every effort to save them, but if we cannot..." [20:25] "They represent... a liability." 15[20:26] Caxi: "A spirit like they described - possessing dozens of people - doesn't, can't, maintain those minds independently in its thrall. They are one contiguous entity, now, and could not survive outside the host spirit without painstaking spiritual surgery of the kind only a master exorcist can perform." 15[20:27] Ratel presses her lips together. She's clearly choosing her words very carefully. "And yet, there is evidence to the contrary. We have the Leftenant here, newly freed, simply by escaping." [20:27] 14Maybe good to do some slight pushback for the cover. "I dunno if I wanna like...go out and play throatcutter, though. I think Caxi's right. And if something happens to them in the interim..." 4She shrugs. "War sucks." [20:28] "We could always split up..." [20:28] 6Zhangyu is still on the "let them all go" plan, but. [20:28] "Like, even if we DO free the crewmembers or the villagers or whoever, we're still gonna have to have the exorcist deal with that thing." [20:30] 07Dryas' proposal: "We shatter Carmine Road, pummel it into submission. If its thralls are freed in the process, so much the better. If they die, they die in service of the Realm and take crucial state secrets to the grave with them. But most importantly, Carmine Road has no way of knowing we have no talented exorcist among us. We can bluff." [20:31] 10Daizo speaks up: "The spirit responsible for the red lightning is clearly able to be provoked." 15[20:31] Salim speaks up. "How do you propose to shatter a spirit only one of us can reach? We only have so many arrows." [20:32] 10Daizo: "We should make the experiment, try and bait it into chasing the idol a second time." [20:32] "Perhaps it will attempt to take a more direct approach." [20:33] "Even if it doesn't, we can establish if another one of the sheep can be removed from the flock." 15[20:34] The Leftenant hasn't said a word since Caxi let slip about the Empress. Her face is stony, a far cry from the expression those who met her in the jungle remember. [20:34] 10Daizo: "And if Caxi's theory is correct, we call in the professionals. But the experiment needs to be made." [20:34] 07Dryas nods. "We know it values the idol. And even before, you - excuse me, it -" 07(this directed to the Leftenant) "it was intrigued by Tepet Zhangyu." [20:37] 14Piu casually keeps her eyes on Catela. Catela's a big girl and a dynast, and thus both an adult and her enemy, but Piu does feel a little bad. [20:37] 6Zhangyu: "Let them all go. We could - come back, maybe, but here? Now?" 6He's more sure than he was five minutes ago. "Dangerous. Unpredictable." [20:38] 10Daizo glances to Ratel, who appears to remain unmoved by the arguments.  15[20:38] Piu observes Catela's silence, and judges it to be a mask over fear. A feeling Piu knows well - the sense that any betrayed desire, any word spoken, any gesture made could spell her doom. [20:38] 14Interesting. 15[20:39] Ratel folds her arms and looks down, silent for several moments. 15[20:40] "Dryas and Daizo have the plan with fewer leaps of logic. We can't leave without at least proving to ourselves this is beyond us." [20:41] 4Piu: "Salim brings up a good point, though...what am I supposed to do, like, jump?" [20:41] 6Well. Muscle up. [20:41] 10Daizo remembers to breathe again. She sees reason!  [20:41] 07Dryas: "Since we have bait, we need ground for a trap." 15[20:42] Ratel, to Piu: "We'll worry about that later. Right now the challenge is to prove we can corral the spirit, and prove we can free the cultists. Or that we can't." [20:42] 4A tolerant sigh. "Roger that." [20:43] 10Daizo has an idea, but he's not going to pipe up with it here where Caxi can just… fiat it down. [20:44] 4Her eyes go over to Caxi. 15[20:44] 10Ratel: "Dryas and Zhangyu, set the trap. Piu and Salim, try to extract cultists. Caxi and Daizo, find a vantage point and study this as best you can." 15[20:44] Ratel: "Dryas and Zhangyu, set the trap. Piu and Salim, try to extract cultists. Caxi and Daizo, find a vantage point and study this as best you can." [20:45] 4Piu: "Roger!" [20:45] 6Zhangyu will nod confidently, although -- Daizo, speak to your favorite cousin? I mean, probably favorite cousin. [20:46] 6Maybe there's an unnamed one who he likes more. [20:47] 10Daizo offers a salute. "It shall be done." 10He can worry about the rest of it later. 15[20:49] Caxi's face is set more gracefully than Catela's, but it's a mask Piu and Dryas see through just as clearly. Both of her motivations - a desire not to risk or lose the idol and a deep suspicion about Catela's rapid recovery - have been thwarted. The anger doesn't show... but you can see a tiny bead on a tiny abacus somewhere deep in the sorceress's mind moving a black mark from one 15[20:49] side to another. [20:51] 14Mmmm. Dryas better watch out. Ratel too. 15[20:57] While the hearth catches their breaths, Catela goes to get some rest and Ratel pores over the ledgers. What is Dryas's plan, when the time comes? [21:01] 07Dryas takes one last swig from her flask, hurls her sealskin cloak around her shoulders and heads to the second story, to try to get a view of the island's interior and terrain. [21:03] 07If there's a map of the island, fantastic. Otherwise, she'll rely on what she can see and what she saw during their previous reconnoiter. This is no different from hunting a flying beast... one that likely doesn't sleep or rest on the ground. So, someplace to lure it... [21:04] 4Piu will spend the downtime resting and generally trying to buoy Caxi's spirits, or at least keep her from going off and doing something stupid. 15[21:04] Dryas couldn't find a map, which is annoying but not that surprising. It's quite a small island, and posts this small cut corners all the time. [21:11] 10Daizo's going to get a couple hours' nap in before dawn, if possible. Old Tepet maxim: sleep when you can, for when you can't later.  15[21:14] Up top, despite the dark of night and the storm, Dryas gets a sense of the lay of the land. The treeline gets thick very quickly - the post was likely built in forested area - and seems to thin out the further inland you go. [21:16] 6Zhangyu never learned the proper Tepet maxims. He stays up, and sees almost nothing. [21:17] 10His first shot at sleeping is fitful, so he goes up topside to clear his head for a few minutes.  [21:20] 10After a while his eyes adjust to the dark and for a brief few moments the rain stops, and the island's spread out before him like a buffet table under the night sky. 15[21:24] Daizo's head might not clear, but the sky certainly does. He peers out over the terrain - not only does the jungle thin, but the plant life itself is shorter and weaker. While the island is small, he spots several gaps in the canopy that suggest clearings like the one they met the cult in - at least three. And the area between them (Daizo draws a triangle in his mind) is almost barren. 15[21:25] The ruined holy(?) site was in that area. [21:26] 6Unholy site. Not that Zhangyu saw it. [21:28] 07Dryas begins formulating her plan. If Carmine Road won't come out here, perhaps it can be drawn around through the outskirts of the jungle... She can ride through the forest easily enough... [21:29] 10Maybe it was holy and that's why the seal was there. No idea how to put it back in place now, but… Daizo contemplates the possible sacred geometries until he feels sleep starting to steal in again; then he'll share his insights with Dryas.  [21:30] 07Dryas is at first reluctant -- but she is quickly won over by Daizo's superior assessment, and appreciative. She clears off a table to arrange a snaking string in a triangular shape around its boundary and summons Zhangyu to begin explaining her plan... [21:31] 6Whatcha got, Boss Lass? [21:33] "If those are other gathering places for Carmine Road's adherents, there might also be other leader figures like Catela was. Keep watch—after this, they might be ready to fight." [21:33] 4Piu will bounce in when everyone else gets up. "Where'dya need me?" [21:34] 10With that, Daizo's off to bed again. His sleep is hardly untroubled, but you take what you can get. [21:35] "I outran the storm once before. Even in tight quarters, I should be able to do it again," 07Dryas states with furrowed brow as she arranges a collection of bric-a-brac - including the glass full of stale rum, to represent Carmine Road - on the table to lay out her plan. [21:42] 6Zhangyu has trained for.. not exactly this. But. He knows enough to advise Dryas. 15[21:53] Zhangyu's advice is good, and the plan is set in motion. [21:53] 14Piu will do a quick, professional planning session with Salim. How does he want to divide responsibility? Presumably they'll be making separate intrusions. 15[21:55] Dryas, with Zhangyu in tow, charges provocatively through the first clearing, where the cultists huddle in a sodden heap. How does Dryas get their attention? 15[21:57] Salim wants the two of them to work entirely independently, making their moves at the same time. It doesn't matter to him who they choose to take, or how. [21:58] 07Dryas puts to her lips a curved ram's horn - a souvenir of her Southern travels, filigreed with copper - and gives it one, two, three sonorous blasts! 15[21:58] Meanwhile, on the roof, Caxi offers Daizo a delicate brass spyglass. [21:58] 14Sounds like a plan. [22:00] 14They'll stage on opposite sides, then. On the agreed upon signal -- probably a time count from when they split or from when the battle is joined, something like that -- Piu will go after the highest value target she can identify. 15[22:00] The cultists stir quickly, crawling over each other to stand and scatter into the woods. Above, the morning sky dims and reddens. [22:02] 10Daizo: "Ah. You're most kind, thank you." 10Note to self. Get a spyglass of my own with a mirror so I'm not beholden to this witch again. [22:03] 4She's not that bad! [22:03] 10Piu's biased. [22:10] 10Ratel assigned them to work together, but Daizo doesn't have to like it. And he doesn't. 15[22:10] Caxi, for her part, seems a little hurt by Daizo's coldness. 15[22:11] Must be an act... 15[22:11] Right? [22:12] 10Might as well ask a brick wall, for the moment anyway. 15[22:14] With no storm-cloud to inhabit, pulsing veins split the open air as the entity manifests maybe ten yalms from the ground. It doesn't seem to chase them so much as grow, with new veins surging after Dryas and Zhangyu as they're pursued. People at the rear - Piu and Salim, but especially Daizo and Caxi - see that it *does* have some finite amount of itself to distribute, as veins at the 15[22:14] 'rear' of the entity shrink and recoil as it chases the huntress and the idol. [22:15] 14Mhm. [22:16] 07Dryas knows she can outrun this thing easily, so she instead - "I am going tie you into a knot," 07she announces, blowing again on the horn to -she hopes - keep its attention focused on her. [22:17] 10Well, that's a relief. So it can be "drawn out" in a sense. If— if there's a third attempt, Daizo will try floating his plan to Ratel and Dryas. [22:17] 6Zhangyu cackles as he sprints away, dodging any blow aimed at him. 15[22:18] Meanwhile, the moment has come for Piu and Salim to make their moves... 15[22:25] Piu, moving silently through the cracking and the scrambling and the bleating of the ram's horn, is able to identify someone rather like yesterday's Catela - a young man wreathed in flowers, walking delicately and deliberately through the jungle, amid a throng of wet and harried would-be revelers. [22:26] 14Time to move, and stop, and move and stop...wait...wait...now-- [22:29] 14She's got the Chain coiled around her right hand, but she hopes not to use it. 15[22:31] The hard part is weaving in and out of the revelers, but she's skilled enough and the cultists are distracted enough that soon she's got the young man - seventeen? eighteen? - twisting dazedly in her grasp. [22:31] 14... [22:31] 14Not like she's never killed kids before. [22:33] 6...look, there are lines. I mean, that isn't one, but there are lines. [22:35] 14She's certainly never killed an unarmed kid. [22:36] 6Unarmed doesn't mean incompetent. Zhangyu's never picked up a weapon. [22:36] 14Fine. An unconscious kid. [22:36] 6Yeah, that's fair. 15[22:39] Dryas seems to have the entity effectively wound-up enough that it doesn't react at all to Piu's daring maneuver. The boy's twisting gets more forceful the farther she takes him, though - it's probably not sustainable to hold him in this grip for much longer. What's she want to do? [22:39] 14Hmm. [22:47] There's no sigh of Piu and Salim. This thing can't possibly catch Dryas as it is now. So instead of watching the goings-on on the ground, Daizo focuses on the entity. The ebb and flow of Essence in it, surrounding it—things you can so rarely see in this light, with this clarity—Daizo's mesmerized. [22:48] 10There's no sigh of Piu and Salim. This thing can't possibly catch Dryas as it is now. So instead of watching the goings-on on the ground, Daizo focuses on the entity. The ebb and flow of Essence in it, surrounding it—things you can so rarely see in this light, with this clarity—Daizo's mesmerized.  15[22:52] Dryas surges back and forth on Diamond Weapon's back, causing veins to snake through the air and double back on themselves. The network of veins gets smaller and denser as it laps back and forth over the same space. 15[22:54] Piu pulls the boy well away from the monster and the chaos, and his thrashing calms... and then starts up again, swiftly and savagely. The boy's eyes roll back into his head. [22:54] 14She drags him, of course. Difficult to keep his arms wide and shoulders locked without constricting his windpipe, but the spreadwing hold pioneered by Cathak Nelsyn does it. [22:54] 6Good form. [22:54] 14Now she'll bear him to the grass, hopefully something of a soft bed, and try to stop him from biting off his own tongue. [22:55] 14If that requires shoving her own fist in there, then that's what she'll do. 15[22:57] Daizo studies the entity through the spyglass and comes to a startling realization: this thing's movements are so sudden and precise... he surmises that they aren't conscious gestures at all, but an unavoidable physical reaction. Dryas, close enough to rouse it with the idol in hand, appears to be pulling it by the nose, as if it were magnetized. [22:59] 10Under his breath he whispers a single word in Old Realm: 「Eureka.」 15[23:00] Caxi: "You see it too?" 15[23:00] She must have been listening very closely to have caught that. [23:00] 6Also, it does give Tepet Zhangyu actual, literal pain to admit that a Cathak created a good hold. But it passes quickly, and he is free to admire Piu's form. 15[23:02] The boy's jaw clamps around a strap of leather or whatever Piu has at hand. A thin trickle of foam escapes his lips. His heart is racing wildly. [23:02] 14All she can do is make sure he doesn't hurt himself and hope. [23:02] 10Daizo: "It's still bound to that heart. It's veins, after all… It might even be able to be re-contained, if confined to a small enough space…" [23:05] 10Daizo: "See the way she's dragging it back around on itself? Eventually it won't be able to spread out at all." 15[23:06] "Earth and Hell -- you're right!" 15[23:06] Caxi curls her fingers. "I'll tell her at once." 15[23:08] Moments later Dryas finds herself effortlessly outpaced... by a prismatic insect, the color of an oil-stained puddle, with six sharp and glittering wings, buzzing rudely in her face. "It can't help itself," says the insect now and Caxi, in Daizo's presence, a moment earlier. "You can tie it into a knot and render it helpless." 15[23:09] Elsewhere, the boy in Piu's arms seizes once, twice, and goes still. No breathing. No heartbeat. Almost all the petals scattered from his brow in the struggle. [23:09] "Thank you."10 This time he's far less cold about it. If only because he's managed to score a point against the sorcerer. [23:12] 07Dryas is surprised. "And I thought it was just for show -" 07And now she takes another look at the mass of tendrils, taking note of the longest-reaching ones, and sets about to ride through again, leading it back in on itself. How small can she make it? Actually - is there room in the heart? A capsule? She spurs Diamond Weapon on, faster and faster! [23:13] 14She places his hands over his chest, kisses him on the forehead, and lets the earth have him. It didn't work. [23:14] 14She'll fall back to the rally point. 15[23:14] She finds Salim already there, face flecked with blood. 15[23:14] He's scowling. [23:14] 14Piu: "Mine died too." 15[23:17] Dryas races round and round - she can ride fully around the dense knot of veins in the air now - and the veins tighten and tighten... the question is - what now? [23:17] 10Daizo: "Come on. Let's give Ratel an update on the situation and give Dryas a hand. Once we have it contained, we can think of a way to seal it." 15[23:18] Caxi: "It was your discovery; you should brief her." She heads downstairs. 15[23:20] The two of them brush past Catela who's rather forcefully leaving the room they enter, which Ratel has taken as her staging area. 15[23:21] Salim: "They've found some way to control it. If they destroy it, all of the thralls will die." [23:21] 14Piu: "Decision above our paygrade. ...Why are you covered in blood?" [23:22] 10Daizo salutes. "Commodore. We've figured out a method to incapacitate the entity. When materialized, the idol is still exerting a powerful force of attraction on it." 15[23:22] Salim: "Mine cracked a rib, punctured a lung. Blood in his last breaths." 15[23:25] Ratel: "That's excellent. What do we need to do next?" [23:25] 14Piu: "There's no good way to die. At least they went quick." [23:26] 6There is, but it involves more glory. 15[23:26] Salim: "We should return to the Commodore." [23:26] 10Daizo: "Dryas is literally tying it in knots out there. I'm prepared to head to the scene and see if there's a way to patch the seal on the Heart." 15[23:27] Ratel: "Go. Caxi, stay here to examine the people Piu and Salim bring back." 15[23:27] Caxi nods. [23:28] 6Zhangyu will sprint - after a lengthy end-around - to the ship again. They - he - can't lead them to their point of entry... so he won't. [23:29] "Yes ma'am." 10Daizo bows and exits the command post, then sets off towards Dryas' last position.  [23:30] 14Piu nods, and they'll return. [23:37] "I've got it small now! Think we can cram it back in the heart?" 07Dryas asks, her horn dangling at her side while she gribs the idol tightly with both hands held above her head, steering Diamond Weapon with her knees. "Tree?" 15[23:44] A moment after Daizo departs, Piu and Salim arrive to brief Ratel. Salim will let Piu speak unless she makes it clear she doesn't want to. [23:45] 14She's blunt: "Dead kids. Didn't work. Mine's heart exploded in his chest. Salim?" 15[23:47] Salim nods. "A fatal seizure." 15[23:47] Caxi, mildly: "Daizo just ran out to help Dryas seal the spirit. They're going to kill the rest of them." 15[23:48] Ratel: "Piu, go, now." [23:48] 14She's running. 15[23:51] Piu runs swiftly, past dazed cultists, and arrives to see Daizo on foot and Dryas on horseback beneath a snarl of red veins pumping in the open air, looking up at Zhangyu, a palm tree craning beneath his weight as he climbs to the top. [23:52] 6Let's go. Fly, motherfucker. [23:52] 14Piu: "ZHANGYU!" [23:52] "THROW ME!" [23:53] 6...fly, other fucker. [23:55] 10Daizo looks momentarily bemused. Piu's easier to catch, anyway. [23:55] 14She leaps onto Diamond Weapon's back and does a double axel spin in the air, landing with her feet on his shoulders, perched, ready to pounce. [23:56] "Hard and clean. Go!" [23:56] 07Dryas: "What on --" [23:57] 10Daizo: "This is some Falcon Style bull—" [23:58] 6Zhangyu catches her perfectly, swings her around, and lets go-- [00:02] 14Two hands, ten fingers, grasping the sky. And the knees...she leads with the knees, driving the cord-bundle so it bends and then, in midair, grabs both ends. They both begin to fall, all the tendrils curling in, and as they do she ties it in a knot, pulling it screaming and writhing taut even as she slams into the ground, no chance to brace-- [00:03] 4She visibly bounces as she hits the dirt, then hits the ground again with a "wooof" and rolls away. [00:04] 4Ow!!! [00:04] 14Piu: "TAKE IT!" [00:04] 14Ow. Ribs. 15[00:04] The orb shudders and writhes - whatever they do, they have to do it fast. [00:05] 10Daizo shouts"Keep hold of it! Zhangyu, get down here and be ready to grab hold if Piu loses her grip!" [00:05] 07Dryas is on it with the idol! She rides forth, leaning fully sideways in the saddle, one hand on the reins and another reaching out to Piu- [00:05] 6She's so good. (x4) Zhangyu's in place as soon as he can be, too -- [00:05] 14She can dive back on top of it if necessary, but surely someone else is on the case. 15[00:10] As Dryas holds the idol out, it burns hot in her hand. The veins writhe and seize... and begin to rush *into* the heart, through the crack. It shudders and pulses - Dryas struggles to hold on. But after a moment she holds a beating, burning, red-hot heart. 15[00:11] It's slightly damp in her hand now. The fissure in the stone has been replaced by a jagged black scar in the rippling pericardium. [00:13] 6Uhhh. [00:13] 10Daizo: "Give it here. I've got the jade gauntlets." [00:13] 07Dryas' expression turns from wonder, to a measure of disgust. "Daizo. Daizo. Take this thing. Daizo. It's repulsive." [00:13] 14Piu just lies on her back and looks at the sky. Should be past dawn by now. [00:15] 6Zhangyu sits cross-legged, waiting. 15[00:16] As Daizo takes the heart, the hearth is beset on all sides by thrashing in the underbrush as the cultists who previously fled Dryas and pursued the heart start to drop to the ground, their bodies seizing. 15[00:16] *pursued the entity [00:16] 6Shouldn't have been cultists there. [00:17] "Gladly." 10Until they get back to the outpost, Daizo's going to keep a tight grip on the hideous heart. The jade in the palm of his gauntlet should provide an extra layer of Magical Material to reinforce the crack, Then… [00:17] 14She drags herself to her feet. If we're going to kill dozens of people, it's best we witnessed it. [00:17] 6Let them all go. [00:17] 14That's not the concern. [00:18] 14They're just gonna die. [00:18] 6They go either way. The wave returns to the ocean. [00:18] 14Yeah, yeah. [00:19] 10He turns and sees the cultists dropping like so many mayflies. [00:19] 07Dryas' face snarls up. "Get on, get on!" 07she exclaims to Daizo, spurring DIamond Weapon on as fast as she can, to take the idol to the furthest point on the island away from these people... 15[00:20] At this point, that's the trading post itself. [00:20] 10Daizo: "Oh no…" 10There were two parts to his experiment, after all. [00:21] 10He's sprinting after Diamond Weapon now. Maybe it's still a localized effect… maybe… [00:23] 10And if the warhorse can take him as a second rider he'll jump for it. 15[00:24] They return, horse and hearth, heart in tow, to the trading post. The sound of their retreat masks the dying gasps of the cultists as their bodies give out one by one. [00:24] 14Piu's eyes are hard. 15[00:24] NEXT TIME: The Trial of Peleps Catela [00:24] 10The operation was a success… but the patients died.