15[20:08] For the first time in what feels like months, Daana'd's Defiance leaves port with a full complement and wind in her sails. The senior staff reached a consensus - they would endeavor to run down as many of the leads they had compiled as possible before the rainy season ends and Putu-on-Neck and its governor are reachable for aid. First is the ancient Maw of Toto-Rak, three days' sail 15[20:08] from the port of Abalone. [20:09] 4Whew! The sea air! A dead-ish volcano at their back! The life! [20:11] 10It's an active volcano. And it even has a new guardian! Daizo can't help but feel a little relief at being on the move again, though. 15[20:11] The weather is poor; full winds and choppy waters would dash less blessed vessels apart, but its able crew and Chosen leaders are able to cut a clean swath through the ocean. The wild storms (and, within them, visible in flitting glimpses through a spyglass, the long, green-skinned, madly dancing limbs of their mothers) keep a respectable distance, with the sorceress Caxi at the prow 15[20:11] like a figurehead coaxing them onward with wordless song. [20:13] 4Okay the weird storms are a bit much. [20:14] 07Once the port is no longer visible, Dryas paces along the deck wrapped in blue silks and oiled leathers to keep dry in the weather. [20:14] 10Even if it means putting off his next lesson with Clara. Seiri delivered a letter to their "mail drop" at the stationery shop explaining the situation. But it is true that he has another practitioner to observe. 15[20:17] Near sunset on the second day it's visible in the distance - two sharp, high mountains of marble pointing upward and apart at an angle, looking like a lonely mountain cleaved in two or, yes, a pair of long jaws open to the sky. [20:17] 10The foul weather means there's few chances to practice another newly-discovered skill: gliding. Are the crew treating him much differently now that he's not concealing his wings? 15[20:18] The crew are treating Daizo much the same, though at the peripheries of etiquette he can observe the change. Where once they stayed out of the big man's way out of deference to his station, now a current of fear pulls them away. There are more stares than there used to be, and whispers that stop abruptly when he comes into view. [20:19] 6Rude of them. 15[20:19] But, in the main, much the same. [20:20] 10It stings a little, but like so many mosquito bites, it 10means10 nothing. Like it or not, he's put himself on a path that's always going to get him looked at ascance in some quarters.  15[20:25] The ship sails through the night and arrives at shore just before dawn. Anyone on deck will see that what in ages past would have served as a dock is mere rubble, chunks of marble - with the odd carved and polished surface among the debris - littering up and down the shoreline and a jagged stump where they must once have been attached. [20:25] 07At sea, Dryas writes. Missives for the Garden, letters home, and letters to her correspondents elsewhere in the West. She also has been spending time in the special compartment she forced Ratel to include for the horse - some of the ratings say she was feeding it something strange. And in the rotten weather, she's dented a series of bokken and training swords - it seems, just hitting things as hard as she can. [20:26] 14Not much to do in transit but wait -- maybe bone up on the new crew members. [20:26] 14Erm. Get familiar with the new crew members. 15[20:26] Bone up as opposed to bone down. [20:26] 14For fuck's sake -- see if any of them are plants. [20:26] 10Right. [20:27] 14One would assume Lao wants his own people on the ship now that Piu has basically told headquarters than the Four Fangs are off-limits for requisitioning her, but who knows how much sway Caedus actually had over hiring. [20:31] 10Daizo's free to offer Seiri and Sadako more pointers on martial arts philosophy, if they're receptive to the idea. He's also brought Carmine Road's vessel (securely locked in a strongbox) and a selection of texts on anatomy and both internal and external alchemy for his own purposes.  [20:34] 14And after an afternoon of gentle and circumspect reconaissance, she finds precisely what she's looking for -- and what she expects. 15[20:35] Seiri's a lot more interested than Sadako is - but Sadako doesn't make Seiri train or study alone. [20:40] 10Good, good. Daizo's been a little worried since that whole thing at the ali-ki's shrine, but doesn't want to pry.  15[20:45] Disembarking is a bit tricky without the dock - this is a fast merchant ship, not a troop transport or lander. But they make do, and after breakfast the gangplank touches steady ground and people get off. Ratel sends the twins and Caxi off to survey and explore the surface of the island - loop around looking for troves, evidence of recent visitors, hidden entrances and hazards and the 15[20:45] like. [20:46] 4Piu, as usual, secrets away the Chain but leaves the armor behind. 15[20:46] Then the Commodore's gaze settles on Zhangyu. "Take the others and poke around inside. Come back if you find any reasonably fresh bodies or anyone living. 15[20:47] " [20:48] 6Zhangyu: "Understood." 6He looks around to the Hearth, nods to them, and starts leading the way. [20:49] 4Piu will bring up whatever flank Zhangyu thinks is wise; probably the rear. [20:51] 6Daizo nearest him, then Dryas, then Piu. Or roughly that order, anyway. [20:51] 10Daizo's definitely not going into a place like this wearing just a robe. It takes a few extra minutes to prepare, but he emerges abovedecks with Luth Maturin on his back. And a pained expression. 15[20:51] As the hearth approaches the space between the mountains, the debris on the ground gets finer and farther-apart. By the time they can no longer make out individual people back at the ship, they're standing on sugar-fine sand and bare, windswept stone. Nothing seems to grow here. [20:52] 10Daizo: "These hurt more now that I'm not trying to pretend they aren't there." [20:54] 4Piu: "You could get the armor refitted...but then with your luck you'd lose the wings as soon as you did and have to get it changed back." [20:54] 07As they make their way inland, Dryas periodically examines the sand and stones. What sort of place is this? [20:54] 4Piu: "Man, whole lot of nothing here." 15[20:54] That's how Dryas is able to spot the entrance - the thick gray cords or ropes that all but block it off look like enough like vines to be incongruous, though an experimental slash with a hunting knife suggests they aren't - they're a light and surprisingly strong silk. [20:56] 10Daizo: "My House elders would throw me into a volcano if anything happened to this armor. It's fine. It won't be a problem for long. You'll see soon enough." [20:57] 6Getting thrown into a volcano... Zhangyu's heard rumors about certain martial artists. 15[21:00] This is the endpoint of her keen study as they move onward. There's no sign of life at all, natural or otherwise, save the paved roads, windswept pillars that might once have been markers or parts of surface structures, and the shattered remnants of the dock itself. The wind is sharp, and the sand light, so weather prevents her from seeing any footprints - even her own. Casting her 15[21:00] eyes upward, she can see gaps and divots in the sheer walls where the mountains face each other. They're woman-sized, and might once have been windows or even corridors, depending on whether the two mountains were ever one. 15[21:00] They don't fit together, though - so if they were one, whatever split them took a lot of material with it. [21:03] 10Daizo: "I'm not sure I could even begin to speculate on what caused this. If there really was an Anathema prison break a thousand years back…" [21:03] 4Piu: "Wow..." 15[21:08] The Maw of Toto-Rak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7764_y-LMlw [21:12] 10Daizo: "What do you think, Dryas? Are we wasting our time on a dustbowl?" 15[21:12] In all the vastness and solitude of the place, the hearth's options are quite narrow: they could go back, enter, or if they fancy a sheer, hundred-yalm sheer climb, try to get into one of the holes in the mountain wall. [21:15] 10Daizo… can get up there trivially. But that doesn't do the rest of the hearth any good.  [21:16] 4...Piu can probably do that third one. [21:17] 07Dryas has been carrying something long, wrapped in grey cloth. "Zhangyu and I could go down, whilst the two of you climb?" 07She unwraps it - it's the Earned Nemesis, Ted's own weapon, the god-slaying bow. [21:18] 4Ooh. [21:18] 6Zhangyu: "I might be able to climb up there, but the splitting up seems like the better option, if we want to look into both." [21:18] 10Daizo: "Two each way, you mean? Mm. Hmmm." [21:19] 4Piu: "Sure!" [21:21] 10Daizo grins. "Race you?" [21:32] 4*rewinding noise* [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "Let's just enter together. I'm sure we'll find a way up there." [21:35] 07Dryas: "Works for me," 07she replies as she strings together the dull grey limbs of the bow. [21:35] 4Piu wraps the Chain around one hand. [21:35] 10Daizo: "Very well. Lead on, Cousin." 15[21:38] The hearth enters, pushing past the shredded silk ropes. The air changes sharply and suddenly, with a marked increase in both warmth and humidity. The reason is apparent once they've come out of the entryway to stand in a grand marble foyer - while the island outside is barren, life abounds within. The floor is carpeted with plant life, multicolored and luminous, and clinging to the 15[21:38] walls - covering all the signage - is something like a vibrant, orange mold. [21:40] 10Daizo: "Blech. Can't stand mold." 10But if there are signs, he'll try and scrape a couple of them off in hopes of deciphering them. [21:42] 4...Well, that's weird. [21:42] 6Concerning. [21:42] 4Piu: "Maybe it doesn't like the wind...? Or the light." [21:43] 07Are there tracks in the ground? Signs of passage? [21:44] 07Does Dryas recognize this unusual fungus? 15[21:44] The plant life beneath their boots muffles their footsteps, and here and there is the impression of movement, or light reflected off some small game's six eyes before it darts back out of sight. Daizo scrapes some of the mold - finding it sticky and insubstantial, melting in his gauntlet like spun candy - off the nearest sign to find a silver plate bolted to the wall etched with Old 15[21:44] Realm characters. This is (Palace, Temple, or Soul) One; forward is the (Archive or Library); up is the Presidium, and down is the Vault. 15[21:46] The fungus doesn't look like anything Dryas has ever seen, particularly after it dissolves to nothing in Daizo's hands. There's some sign of damage to the plant life and movement, but it's difficult to guess what made them or how old they are. Little of it looks especially fresh. [21:47] 10Daizo: "Eurgh. I almost wish it'd stuck. At least we could have brought back a sample." [21:48] 6Zhangyu shudders. "No, thank you. It can stay here." [21:48] "Pry the whole plate off, then," 07Dryas suggests. "But you'll do your own laundry." [21:49] "Head up first, then? We can see what climbing would have gotten us." [21:50] 4Piu: "'Vault?' Is that like, Prison?" [21:50] "I'll come back with a jar or something before we shove off, perhaps." 10Daizo grumbles. "So, what do you think? The Archive or the Presidium?" [21:50] 4Either way the idea of using this place as a staging ground for further explorations is getting less appealing by the second. [21:51] "The record room might give us context," 07Dryas opines. [21:51] "It could be. Or it could be the more usual meaning of Vault. I wonder how many facilities there were; perhaps each one contained something different." [21:52] 07Dryas: "Let's move quickly regardless." [21:52] 4Piu: "Archive sounds good to me." [21:53] 10Daizo's brought his trusty lantern that served him well in the tomb. His armor's got a little hook at waist level to hang it on, which is handy. Who knows what its original purpose was.  [21:54] 6Zhangyu will lead into the archives, then. 15[21:54] The lamp will help illuminate details, though fortunately(?) the plant life has some luminescence of its own, so people without a lantern hook can still see fine. [21:56] 4Hmmm. 15[21:56] The hearth moves to the rear of the lobby, past a marble dais that might once have held a commander or perhaps a statue and now holds only twitching flowers. There's more silk here, or was - what the Four Fangs see was not cut but burned away. [21:57] 07Twitching? 15[21:57] Yeah, just a bit - it'd be easy to mistake for a heat shimmer, but it's not THAT warm in here. [21:59] 10It's just enough to keep you a little on edge, seeing movement out of the corner of your eye. 15[22:00] The Archive was a big, multi-level room, its walls a honeycombed warren of interlocking pentagonal cubbies. Daizo judges they were scroll racks, once, but nothing paper would survive in an environment this warm and wet for any length of time. There are more plants and more mold blocking up many of the cubbies, though a refreshingly normal-looking handful of bats is startled out of a 15[22:00] couple of them as they pass. [22:01] "Why silk ropes, if this was a high-security facility? Unless it was meant to slow or trap anyone trying to escape..." [22:02] 07Dryas remembers the Lintha: "Perhaps it was more than physical restraints that held them? Hostages, or some other surety?" [22:04] 4Piu: "Maybe they were magic or something..." [22:04] "Certainly seemed to be keeping the heat and humidity in." [22:04] 10There are spiders that lay sophisticated traops for their prey. Even enormous ones that consume woman-sized prey—but those are reputed to only be found in the distant East. "Perhaps. Even Anathema most have families, and the ones that aren't too far-gone still care about them, I suppose." [22:06] 07Dryas examines the layout of the cells. A bureaucracy is a bureaucracy, even in the ancient times. "I wonder. What sort of place was this to work? An all-supervising tyrant? Clerks expected to be independent?" [22:10] 4Piu: "Certainly seemed...insular. And isolated. Not much out here even if it's 'only' three days by the Defiance from Abalone." 15[22:13] The place is ancient, but it's organized on principles that are basically legible to Dryas, even with all the decay. In a small room off the main chamber, past a white jade threshold the mold doesn't cross, underneath a shattered stone desk, she finds a lockbox made of what looks like, but is much too heavy to be, glass. Bringing it into Daizo's light she can see that there are intact 15[22:13] scrolls within! 15[22:14] There were once long stone tables running through the middle of the room, but almost all of them are cracked and splintered as well. The only fixture that seems like it might be wholly intact is at the very center of the room, so covered in mold that all that's immediately obvious is that it's circular. Daizo peels the mold off, hazarding it on the theory that its centrality marks its 15[22:14] importance, to reveal an intricately worked basin of black jade. [22:15] 10Daizo's poking his nose into individual cubbies now. "You'd need to ask a specialist in the late Shogunate period about their approaches to management. Oh—ho, what's this!" [22:17] 07Dryas lugs the not-glass box into the main chamber. "I'm not sure if we should open these here or back on the Defiance, but I'm sure whatever is inside might be helpful. Or valuable." [22:17] 10Does the basin appear to be movable, or is it firmly attached to its plinth? 15[22:18] Daizo's seen tales of things like this... very old, powerful manses on the Isle have them, while peasant and patrician children were often told that the Empress had a special pool she could look into that showed her every time a little boy or girl skipped their chores or their prayers. 15[22:18] It's bolted down. [22:19] 10Mmmhmm. Well, all that remains, then, is to make the experiment. [22:19] 6I love experiments. [22:20] 4Piu: "We were told to report back if we found living or dead bodies...but technically we haven't, yet!" [22:20] 10Daizo uncaps a canteen and pours clear water into the basin. He lays hands on it. [22:23] 10And harmonizes his Essence with the basin's. 15[22:25] The pool shimmers, and then glows white. Daizo feels intense vertigo, as if he's just tumbled down a great hole, though he doesn't actually move. Thoughts fill his mind, too fast to follow, and they vanish when he tried to focus on them, like a dream on waking, or the mold through his fingers. [22:26] 07Dryas glances over at the wonders, and then focuses in on her own box again. They kept records for a reason, in things like this. Is there an obvious lock? Does it seem like it might open on its own? 15[22:27] There is an obvious lock. It's so obvious Dryas can see the mechanism inside it. [22:28] 07Well, Dryas has been spending a lot of time with criminals lately. Maybe she could pick this lock. But it would be strange to make a lock you could visibly pick like that... wouldn't it? Unless it really was just to keep people honest. [22:29] 6Training lock? They exist, probably. 15[22:30] It is quite peculiar. If Dryas is paranoid she might think it a trap. [22:30] 10Daizo asserts his will over the flood of thoughts in the pool, mentally building a dike—and standing before it with his finger in the only gap. [22:31] "Haah. I have a grip on it. I think I can get some useful information out of this…" [22:34] 6Zhangyu: "What is it? And how?" [22:38] 10Daizo: "The formal name is… something something font of knowledge. But everyone's heard the folktales about Her Scarlet Majesty's viewing pools… it's like that." [22:39] 10Daizo shakes his head and stares daggers at the pool. "What is the purpose of the facilities on this island?" [22:41] 10Crap. Daizo rephrases the question in Old Realm. [22:43] 07Dryas, regarding her own glass box: "We might have to open this back on board. I'm not sure I could get this." [22:44] 6Zhangyu: "I usually find glass boxes pretty easy to open. ...though they don't really close back up after." 15[22:45] The water bubbles and a voice of indeterminate age or gender speaks in mellifluous Old Realm. [22:45] 07Dryas: "Pick that up and tell me if it's like the glass boxes you're accustomed-" [22:46] 10So it is both a prison and a vault. As expected. [22:47] 10Daizo focuses. [22:48] 4Piu, who doesn't have Old Realm, asks Dryas: "Was that bad?" 15[22:48] [22:48] 6Zhangyu stares for a moment, shrugs - Old Realm stuff, Daizo seems to get it - and tries lifting the box before setting it back down. "Fair enough. That's not glass, whatever it is." [22:49] 6the glass box* [22:49] 10Seventy? That much mold grows in seventy days?  [22:50] "Can it tell if anyone's still alive in here?" [22:51] "Or how many dead?" [22:51] 07Dryas, to Piu: "What, the talking font? I didn't take any Old Realm electives in school. I got some Cathak nerds to test out of all that ancient history nonsense for me." [22:52] 10Daizo: "I'll try it."